THE ACCOLADE
When Marjory arrived, I had all ready for our exploration. There were
several packages waiting for her, and when she emerged from the room
where she had gone to change, their purpose was manifest. She appeared
in a flannel tennis frock, short enough to show that she had put on her
sand shoes on her bare feet. She saw that I noticed and said with a
little blush:
"You see I am dressed for the part; you came back so wet the last time
that I thought I had better prepare for it too."
"Quite right, my dear," I said. "That pretty head of yours is level." We
went to the cellar at once where I had lamps and candles prepared and
ready 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 our
enterprise apparent. Her face grew a trifle anxious, though she did not
change colour; I could see that all her anxiety was for me and none
for herself. We took care to bring a plentiful supply of matches and
candles, as well as an extra lamp and an oil can, and some torches and
red and white lights. All these were in a tin box to insure their being
kept dry. I had a meal of bread and meat packed ready; also a bottle of
water 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 of
feet of water; but we decided to go on at once as it would give us more
time if we started on a falling tide.
I took Marjory first up the passage inland, so that she might understand
something of the lines of the cave system. There was, however, too much
tide just then to show her where I surmised there might be some deep
opening, perhaps permanently under water, into some of the other
caves. Then we retraced our steps and gained the pile of debris of the
explosion at the cave's mouth. I could not but notice how much Marjory
was impressed by the stillness of the place. Here, the tide, filtering
in 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 the
rise and fall of waves to be apparent; but the water maintained its
level silently, except for that ceaseless gurgle which comes with the
piling in of water anywhere, and is so constant that it does not strike
one 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, as
an inevitable corollary, came the depressing thought of our helplessness
should aught go wrong in the fastnesses of this natural prison.
Marjory bounded over the slippery stones like a young deer, and when we
passed through the natural archway into the cave beyond, her delight was
manifest. She was hurrying on so quickly that I found it necessary to
tell her she must go slow so as to be able to take stock of all around
her as she went. It was needful to look back as well as forward, so that
she might recognise the places when coming the other way. I reminded her
of 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 the
cellar. "Remember, dear," I said, "that you have to be prepared for all
eventualities; if necessary to go back alone and in the dark." She
shuddered a little and drew closer to me; I felt that the movement was
one of protection rather than of fear.
When we went along the passage, where on the first occasion I had found
the water rise nearly to the roof, we had to wait; a little way ahead of
us, where the cave dipped to its lowest, the water was still touching
the top. We possessed our souls with what patience we could, and in
about 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 the
exception, of course, of the tin box with the candles and matches and
our 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 velvet
blackness. The natural red of the granite suited the red light, the
effect being intensely rich. Whilst the light lasted it was all like a
dream 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 natural
darkness, 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 dazzled
eyes to openly emphasise the surrounding blackness.
Marjory suggested that we should explore the great cavern before we did
anything else. I acquiesced, for it was just as well that we should be
thoroughly acquainted with the various ramifications of the cave. I was
not by any means sure as yet that we should be able to get to the cave
of the treasure. Here, all around us, was red; we were entirely within
the sienite formation. When I had been first in the cave I had not seen
it lit up. Only where the comparatively feeble light of my bicycle
lantern had fallen had I seen anything at all. Of course it may have
been that the red light which I had burned had misled me by overwhelming
everything in its lurid glow. So this time I got a white light out of
the box and lit it. The effect was more ghastly and less pleasant. In
the revealing glare, the edges of everything stood out hard and cold,
and so far repulsive that instinctively Marjory drew closer to me. While
the light remained, however, I was able to satisfy myself of one thing;
all around was only the red granite. Colour and form and texture all
told the same thing; we had passed the stratification of gneiss and
entered on that of the sienite. I began to wonder and to think, though I
did not at once mention the matter to Marjory. The one guiding light as
to locality in the Don's narrative was the description of the cave "the
black stone on one hand and the red on the other." Now at Broad Haven
the gneiss and the red sienite join, and the strata in places seem as if
welded together or fused by fire. Here and there can be found patches in
the cliff where it is hard to say where one class of rock ends and the
other 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 bright
with grass and wild flowers. Through this a tiny stream rushes in wet
weather, or in dry trickles down the steep incline. This is the natural
or main division between the geological formations; for on either side
of it is a different kind of rock--it was here that I expected to find
that the treasure cave was situated. It had been of course impossible
for me, though I had had a compass with me, to fix exactly the windings
of the cave. I knew, however, that the general trend was to the right;
we must, therefore, have passed behind the treasure cave and come into
the region of red granite. I began to have an idea, or rather the
rudiment 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 have
to find whereabout in the cave windings the red and the black rocks
joined. From this point we might be able to make new and successful
progress towards discovery of the treasure itself. In the meantime I was
content to linger a few minutes in the great cavern. It was evident that
Marjory 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 fully
realised in the delightful passages of our companionship the truth of
the 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 my
wife's character and nature. She was herself becoming reconciled to our
new relationship; and in the confidence of her own happiness, and in her
trust of her husband, the playful and sweet sides of her nature were
gaining a new development. I could not help feeling at times that all
was going on for the best; that the very restraint of the opening of
our married life was formative of influence for good on us both. If
all young husbands and wives could but understand the true use of the
old-fashioned honeymoon, the minute knowledge of character coming in
moments of unconscious self-revelation, there might be more answers
in the negative to the all important nineteenth century philosophical
query, "Is marriage a failure?" It was evident that Marjory was
reluctant to leave the cave. She lingered and lingered; at last in
obedience to a command of hers, conveyed--for she said nothing--in some
of those subtle feminine ways, which, though I did not understand their
methods, I was beginning to learn to obey, I lit a torch. Holding it
aloft, and noticing with delight how the light danced in my wife's
beautiful eyes as she clapped her hands joyously with the overt pleasure
of a child, I said:
"Her Majesty wishes to inspect her new kingdom. Her slave awaits her
pleasure!"
"Lead on!" she said. "Her Majesty is pleased with the ready
understanding of her Royal Consort, and with his swift obedience to her
wishes; and oh! Archie isn't this simply too lovely for anything!" The
quick change into the vernacular made us both laugh; and taking hands
like 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 a
place where, under an overhanging red wall which spread out overhead
like a canopy, a great rock rose from the level floor. It was some
nodule of especial hardness which in the general trituration had not
been worn away by the wash of the water and the rolling of pebbles which
at one time undoubtedly helped to smooth the floor. In the blinking
light of the torch, the strength of which was dimmed in the vastness of
the cavern, the isolated rock, standing as it did under the rocky canopy
whose glistening surface sent down a patchy reflex of the glare, seemed
like a throne. The idea occurred simultaneously to both of us; even as I
spoke I could see that she was prepared to take her seat:
"Will not Her Majesty graciously take her seat upon the throne which the
great Over-Lord, Nature, has himself prepared for her?"
She took the stick which she carried to steady her in the wading, and
holding it like a sceptre, said, and oh, but her sweet voice sounded
like far music stealing through the vastness of the cavern:
"Her Majesty, now that she has ascended her throne, and so, formally
taken possession of her Kingdom, hereby decrees that her first act of
power shall be to confer the honour of Knighthood on her first and
dearest subject. Kneel therefore at the feet of your Queen. Answer me by
your love and loyalty. Do you hereby promise and vow obedience to the
wishes of your Queen? Shall you love her faithfully and truly and
purely? Shall you hold her in your heart of hearts, yielding obedience
to 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 tears
welled into her eyes and her mouth quivered. I was all at once in a fire
of 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 young
knight's heart flowered and blossomed in the moment of his permitted
devotion. It was with all the truth of my soul and my nature that I
answered:
"I do love you, oh, my gracious Queen. I hereby take all the vows you
have meted to me. I shall hold you ever, as I do now, in my very heart
of hearts. I shall worship and cherish you till death parts us. I shall
reverence and obey your every true wish; even as I have already promised
beside the sea and at the altar. And whithersoever my feet may go
in obedience to your will, my Queen and my Love, they shall go on
steadfast, 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. Marjory
bent over as I knelt, laid her wand on my shoulder and said:
"Rise up, Sir Archibald, my own True Knight and Loyal Lover!" Before I
rose I wanted to kiss her hand, but as I bent, her foot was temptingly
near. I stooped lower to kiss it. She saw my intention and saying
impulsively: "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 her
pale; but she did not flinch. Then I stood up and she stepped down from
her throne, and into my arms. She laid her head against my shoulder, and
for a few moments of ecstasy our hearts beat together.