DAVID'S NUNC DIMITTIS
The doctor was responsible for Diana's shyness during the drive from St.
Botolph's to Waterloo.
He had said: "I have told your husband, Mrs. Rivers." This was unlike
Sir Deryck's usual tact. It seemed so impossible that that dream-like
service had transformed her from _Miss_ Rivers, into _Mrs._ Rivers; and
it was so very much calling "a spade a spade," to speak of David as
"your husband."
The only thing which as yet stood out clearly to Diana in the whole
service, was David's resolute "I will"; and the essential part of
David's "I will," in his own mind, and therefore of course in hers,
appeared to be: "I will go at once to Central Africa; and I will start
for that distant spot in four hours' time!"
Diana took herself instantly to task for the pang she had experienced at
sight of the sudden flash of intense relief in David's eyes, as he
quoted the Nunc Dimittis.
That he should "depart" on the wedding-day, had been an indispensable
factor in the making of her plan; and, that he should depart "in peace,"
untroubled by the fact that he was leaving her, was surely a cause for
thanksgiving, rather than for regret.
Diana, who prided herself upon being far removed from all ordinary
feminine weaknesses and failings, now rated herself scornfully for the
utter unreasonableness of feeling hurt at David's very obvious relief
over the prospect of a speedy departure, now he had faithfully fulfilled
the letter of the undertaking between them. He had generously done as
she had asked, at the cost of much preliminary heart-searching and
perplexity; yet she, whose express stipulation had been that he should
go, now grudged the ease with which he was going, and would have had him
a little sad--a little sorry.
"Oh," cried Diana, giving herself a mental shake, "it is unreasonable;
it is odious; it is like an ordinary woman! I don't want the poor boy to
stay, so why should I want him to regret going? How perfectly natural
that he should be relieved that this complicated time is over; and how
glad _I_ ought to be, that whatever else connected with me he has found
difficult, at all events he finds it easy to leave me! Any mild regrets
would spoil the whole thing, and reduce us to the level of an ordinary
couple. Sir Deryck's remark in the vestry was most untactful. No wonder
it has had the immediate effect of making us both realise with relief
that, excepting in outward seeming, we each leave the church as free as
when we entered it."
Yet, undoubtedly David _was_ now her husband; and as Diana sat silently
beside him, she felt as an experienced fighter might feel, who had
handed over all his weapons to the enemy. What advantage would David
take, of this new condition of things, during the four hours which
remained to him? She felt defenceless.
Diana plunged both her hands into her muff. If David took one of them,
there was no knowing what might happen next. She remembered the
compelling power of his eyes, as they drew her up the church, to take
her place at his side. How would she feel, what would she do, if he
turned and looked so, at her--now?
But David appeared to be quite intent on the sights of London, eagerly
looking his last upon each well-known spot.
"I am glad this is a hired motor," he said, "and not your own chauffeur.
This fellow does not drive so rapidly. One gets a chance to look out of
the window. Ah, here is the Bank of England. I have never felt much
interest in that. But I like seeing the Royal Exchange, because of the
Prince Consort's text on the marble slab, high up in the centre of its
façade."
They were held up for a moment in the stream of cross-traffic.
"My father pointed it out to me when I was a very little chap,"
continued David. "I really must see it again, for the last time."
He leaned forward to look up through the window on her side of the
motor. His arm rested for a moment against Diana's knee.
"Yes, there it is, in golden letters, on the marble slab! 'The earth is
the Lord's, and the fulness thereof.' Wasn't it a grand idea? That those
words should dominate this wonderful centre of the world's commerce,
wealth, and enterprise. As if so great, so mighty, so influential a
nation as our own, upon whose glorious flag the sun never sets, is yet
humbly proud to look up and inscribe, in letters of gold, upon the very
pinnacle of her supremacy: '_The earth is the Lord's!_' All this
wealth, all this power; these noble colonies, this world-encircling
influence, may be mine; but--'_The earth is the Lord's_.'"
David's eyes glowed. "I am glad I have seen it once more. It is not so
clear as when, holding tightly to my father's hand, I first looked up
and saw it, twenty-two years ago. The letters are tarnished. If I were a
rich man, I should like to have them regilt."
"You _are_ a rich man," said Diana, smiling, "and it shall be done,
David, if private enterprise is allowed the privilege."
"Ah, thanks," said David. "That would really please me. You must write
and say whether it proved possible. Sometimes when alone, in the utter
silence of our great expanse of jungle and forest, I like to picture the
rush and rumble, the perpetual movement of this very heart of our grand
old London, going on--on--on, all the time. It is my final farewell to
it, to-day. Ah, here is the Mansion House. On the day my old dad showed
me the Royal Exchange, we also saw the Lord Mayor's show. I remember I
was much impressed. I fully intended then to be Lord Mayor, one day! I
always used to imagine myself as being every important personage I
admired."
"You remind me," said Diana, "of a very great man of whom it has been
said that he never enjoys a wedding, because he cannot be the bride; and
that he hates attending funerals, because he cannot be the corpse."
David laughed. "A clever skit on an undoubted trait," he said; "but that
trait makes for greatness. All who climb high see themselves at the top
of the tree, long before they get there." Then suddenly he remarked:
"There won't be any éclat about _my_ funeral. It will be a very simple
affair; just a stowing away of the worn-out suit of clothes, under a
great giant tree in our silent forests."
"Please don't be nasty," said Diana; and, though the words were abrupt,
there was such a note of pain in her voice, that David turned and looked
at her. There was also pain in her sweet grey eyes. David put out his
hand, impulsively, and laid it on Diana's muff.
"You must not mind the thought," he said. "We know it has to come; and I
want you to get used to it, just as I have done. To me it only seems
like a future plan for a quite easy journey; only there's a lot to be
done first. Oh, I say! The Thames. May I tell the man to go along the
Embankment, and over Westminster Bridge? I should like a last sight of
the Houses of Parliament, and Big Ben; and, best of all, of Westminster
Abbey."
David leaned out of the window, and directed the chauffeur.
Diana slipped her hands out of her muff.
They passed the royal statue of England's great and belovèd Queen. David
leaned forward and saluted.
"The memory of the Just is blessèd," he said. "I always like to realise
how truly the Royal Psalm applies to our Queen Victoria. 'Thou gavest
him a long life; even forever and ever.' She lives on forever in the
hearts of her people. This--is true immortality!"
Diana removed her gloves, and looked at the bright new wedding-ring,
encircling the third finger of her left hand.
David glanced at it also, and looked away.
"Good-bye, old Metropole!" he said, as they sped past Northumberland
Avenue. "We have had some jolly times there. Ah, here is the Abbey! I
must set my watch by Big Ben."
"Would you like to stop, and go into the Abbey?" suggested Diana. "We
have time."
"No, I think not," said David. "I made my final adieu to English
cathedrals at Winchester, last Monday. And I had such a surprise and
pleasure there. Nothing the Abbey could provide would equal it."
"What was that?" asked Diana, and her hand stole very near to David's.
David folded his arms across his breast, and turned to her with delight
in his eyes.
"Why, the day before you came to town, I went down to Winchester to say
good-bye to some very old friends. Before leaving that beautiful city I
went into the cathedral, and there I found--what do you think? A
side-chapel called the Chapel of the Epiphany, with a stained-glass
window representing the Wise Men opening their treasures and offering
their gifts to the Infant Saviour."
"Were there three Wise Men?" asked Diana. For some reason, her lips were
trembling.
David smiled. "Yes, there were three. Mrs. Churchwarden Smith would have
considered her opinion triumphantly vindicated. But, do you know, that
little chapel was such a holy place. I knelt there and prayed that I
might live to see the completion and consecration of our 'Church of the
Holy Star.'"
Diana drew on her gloves, and slipped her hands back into her muff.
"Where did you kneel, David? I will make a pilgrimage to Canterbury, and
kneel there too."
"It wasn't Canterbury," said David gently. "It was Winchester. I knelt
at the altar rail; right in the middle."
"I will go there," said Diana. "And I will kneel where you knelt,
David."
"Do," said David, simply. "That little chapel meant a lot to me."
They had turned out of York Road, and plunged into the dark subway
leading up to the main station at Waterloo.
Diana lifted her muff to her lips, and looked at David over it, with
starry eyes.
"Shall you remember sometimes, David, when you are so far away, that I
am making pilgrimages, and doing these things which you have done?"
"Of course I shall," said David. "Why, here we are; with plenty of time
to spare."
He saw Diana to their reserved compartment in the boat train; then went
off to the cloak-room to find his luggage.
Before long they were gliding out of Waterloo Station, and David Rivers
had looked his last on London; and had bidden a silent farewell to all
for which London stands, to the heart of every true-born Englishman.