The Mystery of the Sea

  CHAPTER XXVI

  A WHOLE WEDDING DAY

  Fortune favoured us admirably in our plans. Mrs. Jack, taking only herdressing bag and a few odd parcels, went by the afternoon train fromEllon to Aberdeen. In hearing of the household she regretted that shehad to go alone, as Miss Marjory was unable to leave her room. Aboutfive o'clock I was in the wood as appointed; and in about half an hourMarjory joined me in her footman's livery. I had a flannel coat in mybag which we exchanged for that which she wore and which we hid in thewood. We were thus less noticeable. We reached Whinnyfold a little aftersix, and Marjory went into the house and changed her dress which wasleft ready. She was not long; and we were soon flying on our road toAberdeen. We arrived a little before eight and caught the mail; arrivingat Carlisle at ten minutes to two o'clock. In the hotel we found Mrs.Jack anxiously awaiting us.

  In the early morning we were ready; and at eight o'clock we all wenttogether to St. Hilda's Church, where the clergyman was waiting as hadbeen arranged. All formalities were gone through and Marjory and Iwere made one. She looked oh! so sweet in her plain white frock; andher manner was gentle and solemn. It all seemed to me like a dream ofinfinite happiness; from which every instant I feared I should wake, andfind in its stead some grim reality of pain, or terror, or unutterablecommonplace.

  When we went back to breakfast at the hotel, we did not even go throughthe form of regarding it as in any way a wedding feast. Marjory and Ihad each our part to play, and we determined--I certainly did--to playit well. Mrs. Jack had been carefully coached by Marjory as to how sheshould behave; and though now and again she looked from one to the otherof us wistfully, she did not make any remark.

  After a little shopping we got the 12:53 train, arriving at Aberdeen at6:20. Mrs. Jack was to go on by the 7 train to Ellon where the carriagewas to meet her. My wife and I got our bicycles and rode to Whinnyfoldby Newburgh and Kirkton so as to avoid observation. When she had changedher clothes in our own house, we started for Crom. In the wood shechanged her coat and left her bicycle.

  Before we parted she gave me a kiss and a hug that made my blood tingle.

  "You have been good" she said "and that is for my husband!" Once againshe held up that warning finger which I had come to know so well, andslipped away. She then went on alone to the Castle, whilst I waited innervous expectancy of hearing the whistle which she was to blow in caseof emergency. Then I rode home like a man in a dream.

  I left my bicycle at the hotel, and after some supper walked bythe sands to Whinnyfold, stopping to linger at each spot which wasassociated with my wife. My wife! it was almost too much to think of; Icould hardly realise as yet that it was all real. As I sat on the SandCraigs I almost fancied I could see Marjory's figure once again on thelonely rock. It seemed so long ago, for so much had happened since then.

  And yet it was but a few days, all told, since we had first met. Thingshad gone in a whirl indeed. There seemed to have been no pause; no roomfor a pause. And now I was married. Marjory was my wife; mine for goodor ill, till death did us part. Circumstances seemed to have driven usso close together that we seemed not new lovers, not bride and groom,but companions of a lifetime.

  And yet.... There was Marjory in Crom, compassed round by unknowndangers, whilst I, her husband of a few hours, was away in anotherplace, unable even to gaze on her beauty or to hear her voice. Why, itwas not like a wedding day or a honeymoon at all. Other husbands insteadof parting with their wives were able to remain with them, free to comeand go as they pleased, and to love each other unfettered as they would.Why....

  I brought myself up sharp. This was grumbling already, and establishinga grievance. I, who had myself proposed the state of things to Marjory,to my wife. She was my wife; mine against all the rest of the world. Mylove was with her, and my duty was to her. My heart and soul were in herkeeping, and I trusted her to the full. This was not my wedding day inthe ordinary sense of the word at all. This was _not_ my honeymoon.Those things would come later, when our joy would be unfettered bycircumstances. Surely I had reason to rejoice. Already Marjory hadcalled me her husband, she had kissed me as such; the sweetness of herkiss was still tingling on my lips. If anything but love and trust couldcome to me from sitting still and sentimentalising and brooding, thenthe sooner I started in to do some active work the better!...

  I rose straightway and went across the headland to my house, unpackedthe box of tools which had come from Aberdeen, and set about my task oftrying to make an opening into the cave.

  I chose for various reasons the cellar as the spot at which to make thefirst attempt. In the first place it was already dug down to a certaindepth, so that the labour would be less; and in the second, my workingcould be kept more secret. In clearing the foundations of the house theworkmen had gone down to the rock nearly all round. Just at the end ofWitsennan point there seemed to be a sort of bowl-like hollow, wherethe thin skin of earth lay deeper than elsewhere. It was here that thecellar was dug out, and the labour of cutting or blasting the rocksaved. With a pick-axe I broke and stripped away a large patch of theconcrete in the centre of the cellar, and in a short time had dug andshovelled away the earth and sand which lay between the floor level andthe bed rock. I cleared away till the rock was bare some four or fivefeet square, before I commenced to work on it. I laboured furiously.What I wanted was work, active work which would tire my muscles and keepmy thoughts from working into channels of gloom and disintegration.

  It took me some time to get into the way of using the tools. It is allvery well in theory for a prisoner to get out of a jail or a fortress bythe aid of a bit of scrap iron. Let any one try it in real life; underthe most favourable conditions, and with the best tools available, hewill come to the conclusion that romancing is easy work. I had the verylatest American devices, including a bit-and-brace which one could leanon and work without stooping, and diamond patent drills which could,compared with ordinary tools of the old pattern, eat their way intorock at an incredible rate. My ground was on the gneiss side of thegeological division. Had it been on the granite side of the line mylabour and its rapidity might have been different.

  I worked away hour after hour, and fatigue seemed to come and go. I wasnot sleepy, and there was a feverish eagerness on me which would not letme rest. When I paused to ease my muscles cramped with work, thoughtcame back to me of how different this night might have been.... And thenI set furiously to work again. At last I took no heed of the flyinghours; and was only recalled to time by the flickering of my lamp, whichwas beginning to go out. When I stood up from my task, I was annoyed tosee how little I had done. A layer of rock of a few inches deep had beenremoved; and that was all.

  When I went up the steps after locking the cellar door behind me andtaking away the key, I saw the grey light of dawn stealing in throughthe windows. Somewhere in the village a cock crew. As I stepped out ofthe door to return home, the east began to quicken with coming day. Mywedding night had passed.

  As I went back to Cruden across the sands my heart went out in lovewithout alloy to my absent wife; and the first red bolt of dawn over thesea saw only hope upon my face.

  When I got to my room I tumbled into bed, tired beyond measure. In aninstant I was asleep, dreaming of my wife and all that had been, and allthat was to be.

  Marjory had arranged that she and Mrs. Jack were for the coming week atleast, to come over to Cruden every day, and lunch at the hotel; for mywife had set her heart on learning to swim. I was to be her teacher, andI was enthusiastic about the scheme. She was an apt pupil; and she wasstrong and graceful, and already skilled in several other physicalaccomplishments, we both found it easy work. The training which she hadalready had, made a new accomplishment easy. Before the week was overshe was able to get along so well, that only practice was needed to makeher a good swimmer. All this time we met in public as friends, but nomore; we were scrupulously careful that no one should notice even anintimacy between us. When we were alone, which was seldom and never forlong, we were good comrades as
before; and I did not venture to makelove in any way. At first it was hard to refrain, for I was wildlyin love with my wife; but I controlled myself in accordance with mypromise. I soon began to have a dawning feeling that this very obediencewas my best means to the end I wished for. Marjory grew to have suchconfidence in me that she could be more demonstrative than before, andI got a larger share of affection than I expected. Besides I could seewith a joy unspeakable that her love for me was growing day by day; thetentative comradeship--without prejudice--was wearing thin!

  All this week, whilst Marjory was not near, I worked in the cellar atWhinnyfold. As I became more expert with the tools, I made greaterprogress, and the hole in the rock was becoming of some importance.One day on coming out after a spell of afternoon work, I found Gormalaseated on a stone against the corner of the house. She looked at mefixedly and said:

  "Be yon a grave that ye thole?" The question staggered me. I did notknow that any one suspected that I was working in the house, or eventhat I visited it so often as I did. Besides, it did not suit my purposethat any one should be aware, under any circumstances, that I wasdigging a hole. I thought for a moment before answering her:

  "What do you mean?"

  "Eh! but I'm thinkin' ye ken weel eneuch. I'm no to be deceived i' thesoond. I've heard ower mony a time the chip o' the pick, not to ken itthough there be walls atween. I wondered why ye came by yer lanes tothis dreary hoose when ye sent yon bonnie lassie back to her hame. Ayeshe is bonnie though her pride be cruel to the aud. Ah, weel! The Fatesare workin' to their end, whatsoe'er it may be. I maun watch, so that Imay be nigh when the end cometh!"

  There was no use arguing with her; and besides anything that I could saywould only increase her suspicion. Suspicion abroad about my presenttask was the last thing I wished for.

  She was round about the headland the next morning, and the next, and thenext. During the day I never saw her; but at night she was generally tobe found on the cliff above the Reivie o'Pircappies. I was glad of onething; she did not seem to suspect that I was working all the time. OnceI asked her what she was waiting for; she answered without looking atme:

  "In the dark will be a struggle in the tide-race, and a shrood floatin'in the air! When next death an' the moon an' the tide be in ane, theseein' o' the Mystery o' the Sea may be mine!"

  It made me cold to hear her. This is what she foretold of Marjory; andshe was waiting to see her prophecy come to pass.