CHAPTER XXXIV
THE ACCOLADE
When Marjory arrived, I had all ready for our exploration. There wereseveral packages waiting for her, and when she emerged from the roomwhere she had gone to change, their purpose was manifest. She appearedin a flannel tennis frock, short enough to show that she had put on hersand shoes on her bare feet. She saw that I noticed and said with alittle blush:
"You see I am dressed for the part; you came back so wet the last timethat I thought I had better prepare for it too."
"Quite right, my dear," I said. "That pretty head of yours is level." Wewent to the cellar at once where I had lamps and candles prepared andready to light. I showed Marjory how to get up and down by herself,in case anything should happen to me. This made the gravity of ourenterprise apparent. Her face grew a trifle anxious, though she did notchange colour; I could see that all her anxiety was for me and nonefor herself. We took care to bring a plentiful supply of matches andcandles, as well as an extra lamp and an oil can, and some torches andred and white lights. All these were in a tin box to insure their beingkept dry. I had a meal of bread and meat packed ready; also a bottle ofwater and a flask of brandy, for the exploration might take a long time.The tide was not quite out, and there was still in places a couple offeet of water; but we decided to go on at once as it would give us moretime if we started on a falling tide.
I took Marjory first up the passage inland, so that she might understandsomething of the lines of the cave system. There was, however, too muchtide just then to show her where I surmised there might be some deepopening, perhaps permanently under water, into some of the othercaves. Then we retraced our steps and gained the pile of debris of theexplosion at the cave's mouth. I could not but notice how much Marjorywas impressed by the stillness of the place. Here, the tide, filteringin by innumerable crevices and rifts between the vast pile of stones,showed no sign of the force of waves without. There was not time for therise and fall of waves to be apparent; but the water maintained itslevel silently, except for that ceaseless gurgle which comes with thepiling in of water anywhere, and is so constant that it does not strikeone as a sound. It was borne in upon us that the wildest storm without,would make no impress upon us here in this cavern deep; and with it, asan inevitable corollary, came the depressing thought of our helplessnessshould aught go wrong in the fastnesses of this natural prison.
Marjory bounded over the slippery stones like a young deer, and when wepassed through the natural archway into the cave beyond, her delight wasmanifest. She was hurrying on so quickly that I found it necessary totell her she must go slow so as to be able to take stock of all aroundher as she went. It was needful to look back as well as forward, so thatshe might recognise the places when coming the other way. I reminded herof caution by holding up the great ball of stout cord which I carried,the end of which was attached to the rope of the windlass in thecellar. "Remember, dear," I said, "that you have to be prepared for alleventualities; if necessary to go back alone and in the dark." Sheshuddered a little and drew closer to me; I felt that the movement wasone of protection rather than of fear.
When we went along the passage, where on the first occasion I had foundthe water rise nearly to the roof, we had to wait; a little way ahead ofus, where the cave dipped to its lowest, the water was still touchingthe top. We possessed our souls with what patience we could, and inabout half an hour's time we were able to pass. We were quite wet,however, for only our faces and our lamps were above water; with theexception, of course, of the tin box with the candles and matches andour provisions, which I took care to keep dry.
Marjory's delight at the sight of the huge red cave was unspeakable.When I lit one of the red lights the blinding glow filled the place,exposing every nook and corner, and throwing shadows of velvetblackness. The natural red of the granite suited the red light, theeffect being intensely rich. Whilst the light lasted it was all like adream of fairyland; and Marjory hung on to me in an ecstasy of delight.Then, when the light died down and the last sparks fell into the naturaldarkness, it seemed as if we and all around us were steeped in gloom.The little patches of faint light from our lamps seemed to our dazzledeyes to openly emphasise the surrounding blackness.
Marjory suggested that we should explore the great cavern before we didanything else. I acquiesced, for it was just as well that we should bethoroughly acquainted with the various ramifications of the cave. I wasnot by any means sure as yet that we should be able to get to the caveof the treasure. Here, all around us, was red; we were entirely withinthe sienite formation. When I had been first in the cave I had not seenit lit up. Only where the comparatively feeble light of my bicyclelantern had fallen had I seen anything at all. Of course it may havebeen that the red light which I had burned had misled me by overwhelmingeverything in its lurid glow. So this time I got a white light out ofthe box and lit it. The effect was more ghastly and less pleasant. Inthe revealing glare, the edges of everything stood out hard and cold,and so far repulsive that instinctively Marjory drew closer to me. Whilethe light remained, however, I was able to satisfy myself of one thing;all around was only the red granite. Colour and form and texture alltold the same thing; we had passed the stratification of gneiss andentered on that of the sienite. I began to wonder and to think, though Idid not at once mention the matter to Marjory. The one guiding light asto locality in the Don's narrative was the description of the cave "theblack stone on one hand and the red on the other." Now at Broad Haventhe gneiss and the red sienite join, and the strata in places seem as ifwelded together or fused by fire. Here and there can be found patches inthe cliff where it is hard to say where one class of rock ends and theother begins. In the centre bay, however, to the north of my house,there is a sort of dip in the cliff covered deep with clay, and brightwith grass and wild flowers. Through this a tiny stream rushes in wetweather, or in dry trickles down the steep incline. This is the naturalor main division between the geological formations; for on either sideof it is a different kind of rock--it was here that I expected to findthat the treasure cave was situated. It had been of course impossiblefor me, though I had had a compass with me, to fix exactly the windingsof the cave. I knew, however, that the general trend was to the right;we must, therefore, have passed behind the treasure cave and come intothe region of red granite. I began to have an idea, or rather therudiment of one, that later on we should have to go back on our tracks.Inasmuch as my own house stood on the gneiss formation, we should haveto find whereabout in the cave windings the red and the black rocksjoined. From this point we might be able to make new and successfulprogress towards discovery of the treasure itself. In the meantime I wascontent to linger a few minutes in the great cavern. It was evident thatMarjory was in love with it, and was at present in a whirl of delight.And, after all, she was my world, and her happiness my sunshine. I fullyrealised in the delightful passages of our companionship the truth ofthe lover's prayer in Herrick's pretty poem.
"Give me but what this Ribbon bound, Take all the rest the sun goes round."
Every day, every hour, seemed to me to be revealing new beauties of mywife's character and nature. She was herself becoming reconciled to ournew relationship; and in the confidence of her own happiness, and in hertrust of her husband, the playful and sweet sides of her nature weregaining a new development. I could not help feeling at times that allwas going on for the best; that the very restraint of the opening ofour married life was formative of influence for good on us both. Ifall young husbands and wives could but understand the true use of theold-fashioned honeymoon, the minute knowledge of character coming inmoments of unconscious self-revelation, there might be more answersin the negative to the all important nineteenth century philosophicalquery, "Is marriage a failure?" It was evident that Marjory wasreluctant to leave the cave. She lingered and lingered; at last inobedience to a command of hers, conveyed--for she said nothing--in someof those subtle feminine ways, which, though I did not understand theirmethods, I was beginning to learn to obey, I lit a
torch. Holding italoft, and noticing with delight how the light danced in my wife'sbeautiful eyes as she clapped her hands joyously with the overt pleasureof a child, I said:
"Her Majesty wishes to inspect her new kingdom. Her slave awaits herpleasure!"
"Lead on!" she said. "Her Majesty is pleased with the readyunderstanding of her Royal Consort, and with his swift obedience to herwishes; and oh! Archie isn't this simply too lovely for anything!" Thequick change into the vernacular made us both laugh; and taking handslike two children we walked round the cavern. At the upper end of it,almost at the furthest point from where we entered, we came across aplace where, under an overhanging red wall which spread out overheadlike a canopy, a great rock rose from the level floor. It was somenodule of especial hardness which in the general trituration had notbeen worn away by the wash of the water and the rolling of pebbles whichat one time undoubtedly helped to smooth the floor. In the blinkinglight of the torch, the strength of which was dimmed in the vastness ofthe cavern, the isolated rock, standing as it did under the rocky canopywhose glistening surface sent down a patchy reflex of the glare, seemedlike a throne. The idea occurred simultaneously to both of us; even as Ispoke I could see that she was prepared to take her seat:
"Will not Her Majesty graciously take her seat upon the throne which thegreat Over-Lord, Nature, has himself prepared for her?"
She took the stick which she carried to steady her in the wading, andholding it like a sceptre, said, and oh, but her sweet voice soundedlike far music stealing through the vastness of the cavern:
"Her Majesty, now that she has ascended her throne, and so, formallytaken possession of her Kingdom, hereby decrees that her first act ofpower shall be to confer the honour of Knighthood on her first anddearest subject. Kneel therefore at the feet of your Queen. Answer me byyour love and loyalty. Do you hereby promise and vow obedience to thewishes of your Queen? Shall you love her faithfully and truly andpurely? Shall you hold her in your heart of hearts, yielding obedienceto all true wishes of hers, and keeping the same steadfastly to the end?Do--you--love--me?"
Here she paused; the rising emotion was choking her words. The tearswelled into her eyes and her mouth quivered. I was all at once in a fireof devotion. I could then, and indeed when I think of it I can now,realise how of old, in the days when loyalty was a passion, a youngknight's heart flowered and blossomed in the moment of his permitteddevotion. It was with all the truth of my soul and my nature that Ianswered:
"I do love you, oh, my gracious Queen. I hereby take all the vows youhave meted to me. I shall hold you ever, as I do now, in my very heartof hearts. I shall worship and cherish you till death parts us. I shallreverence and obey your every true wish; even as I have already promisedbeside the sea and at the altar. And whithersoever my feet may goin obedience to your will, my Queen and my Love, they shall go onsteadfast, to the end." Here I stopped, for I feared to try to say more;I was trembling myself and the words were choked in my throat. Marjorybent over as I knelt, laid her wand on my shoulder and said:
"Rise up, Sir Archibald, my own True Knight and Loyal Lover!" Before Irose I wanted to kiss her hand, but as I bent, her foot was temptinglynear. I stooped lower to kiss it. She saw my intention and sayingimpulsively: "Oh, Archie dear, not that wet, dirty shoe," kicked it off.I stooped still lower and kissed her bare foot.
As I looked up at her face adoringly, a blush swept over it and left herpale; but she did not flinch. Then I stood up and she stepped down fromher throne, and into my arms. She laid her head against my shoulder, andfor a few moments of ecstasy our hearts beat together.