A question arose as to where the honeymoon, or so much as would remain of one, was to be spent. G.o.dfrey would have liked to go to Lucerne and visit the Pasteur, but as this could not be managed in war time, suggested London.
"Why London?" exclaimed Isobel.
"Only because most ladies like theatres, though I confess I hate them myself."
"You silly man," she answered. "Do you suppose, when we can have only a few days together, that I want to waste time in theatres?"
In the end it was settled that they would go to London for a night, and then on to Cornwall, which they hoped fondly might be warm at that time of year.
So at last, on the twenty-fourth day of December of that fateful year 1914, they were married in the Abbey Church. Isobel"s uncle, the one with whom she had stayed in Mexico, and who had retired now from the Diplomatic Service, gave her away, and a young cousin of hers was the sole bridesmaid, for the ceremony was of the sort called a "war wedding." Her dress, however, was splendid of its kind, some rich thing of flowing broidered silk with a veil of wondrous lace.
Either from accident or by design, in general effect it much resembled that of the Plantagenet lady which once she had copied from the bra.s.s.
Perhaps, being dissatisfied with her former effort, she determined to recap it on a more splendid scale, or perhaps it was a chance. At any rate, the veil raised in two points from her head, fell down like that of the nameless lady, while from her elbows long narrow sleeves hung almost to the ground. Beautiful Isobel never was, but in this garb, with happiness shining in her eyes, her tall, well-made form looked imposing and even stately, an effect that was heightened by her deliberate and dignified movements. The great church was crowded, for the news of this wedding had spread far and wide, and its romantic character attracted people both from the neighbouring villages and the little town.
Set in the splendid surroundings of the old Abbey, through the painted windows of which gleamed the winter sun, G.o.dfrey in his glittering Indian uniform and orders, and his bride in her quaint, rich dress, made a striking pair at the altar rail. Indeed it is doubtful whether since hundreds of years ago the old Crusader and his fair lady, whose ashes were beneath their feet, stood where they stood for this same purpose of marriage, clad in coat of mail and gleaming silk, a n.o.bler-looking couple had been wed in that ancient fane.
Oddly enough, with the strange inconsequence of the human mind, especially in moments of suppressed excitement, it was of this nameless lady and her lord that G.o.dfrey kept thinking throughout the service, once more wondering who they were and what was their story. He remembered too how the graves of that unknown pair had been connected with his fortunes and those of Isobel. Here it was that they plighted the troth which now they were about to fulfil. Here it was that he had bidden her farewell before he went to Switzerland. He could see her now as she was then, tall and slender in her white robe, and the red ray of sunshine gleaming like a splash of blood upon her breast. He glanced at her by his side as she turned towards him, and behold! there it shone again, splendid yet ominous.
He shivered a little at the sight of it--he knew not why--and was glad when a dense black snow-cloud hid the face of the sun and killed it.
It was over at last, and they were man and wife.
"Do these words and vows and ceremonies make any difference to you?"
she whispered as they walked side by side down the church, the observed of all observers. "They do not to me. I feel as though all the rites in the world would be quite powerless and without meaning in face of the fact of our eternal unity."
It was a queer little speech for her to make, with its thought and balance; G.o.dfrey often reflected afterwards, expressing as it did a great truth so far as they were concerned, since no ceremonial, however hallowed, could increase their existing oneness or take away therefrom.
At the moment, however, he scarcely understood it, and only smiled in reply.
Then they went into the vestry and signed their names, and everything was over. Here G.o.dfrey"s former trustee, General Cubitte, grown very old now, but as bustling and emphatic as of yore, who signed the book as one of the witnesses, b.u.t.tonholed him. At some length he explained how he had been to see an eminent swell at the War Office, a "dug-out"
who was an old friend of his, and impressed upon him his, G.o.dfrey"s, extraordinary abilities as a soldier, pointing out that he ought at once to be given command of a regiment, and how the eminent swell had promised that he would see to it forthwith. Oh! if he had only known, he would not have thanked him.
At last they started for the motor-car, which was to drive them in pomp three hundred yards to the Hall. Some delay occurred. Another motor-car at the church gate would not start, and had to be drawn out of the way.
Three or four of the nurses from the hospital and certain local ladies surrounded Isobel, and burst into talk and congratulations, thus separating her from G.o.dfrey.
Overhearing complimentary remarks about himself, he drew back a little from the porch into the church which had now emptied. As he stood there someone tapped him on the shoulder. The touch disturbed him; it was unpleasant to him and he turned impatiently to see from whom it came.
There in front of him, bundled up in a rusty black cloak of which the hood covered the head, was a short fat woman. Her face was hidden, but from the cavernous recesses of the hood two piercing black eyes shone like to those of a tiger in its den. After all those years G.o.dfrey recognised them at once; indeed subconsciously he had known who had touched him even before he turned. It was Madame Riennes.
"Ah!" she said, in her hateful, remembered voice, "so my little G.o.dfrey who has grown such a big G.o.dfrey now--yes, big in every way, had recognition of his dear G.o.dmamma, did he? Oh! do not deny it; I saw you jump with joy. Well, I knew what was happening--never mind how I knew--and though I am so poor now, I travelled here to a.s.sist and give my felicitations. Eleanor, too, she sends hers, though you guess of what kind they are, for remember, as I told you long ago, speerits are just as jealous as we women, because, you see, they were women before they were speerits."
"Thank you," broke in G.o.dfrey; "I am afraid I must be going."
"Oh! yes. You are in a great hurry, for now you have got the plum, my G.o.dfrey, have you not, and want to eat it? Well, I have a message for you, suck it hard, for very, very soon you come to the stone, which you know is sharp and cold with no taste, and must be thrown away. Oh!
something make me say this too; I know not what. Perhaps that stone must be planted, not thrown away; yes, I think it must be planted, and that it will grow into the most beautiful of plum trees in another land."
She threw back her hood, showing her enormous forehead and flabby, sunken face, which looked as though she had lived for years in a cellar, and yet had about it an air of inspiration. "Yes," she went on, "I see that tree white with blossom. I see it bending with the golden fruit--thousands upon thousands of fruits. Oh! G.o.dfrey, it is the Tree of Life, and underneath it sit you and that lady who looks like a queen, and whom you love so dear, and look into each other"s eyes for ever and for ever, because you see that tree immortal do not grow upon the earth, my G.o.dfrey."
The horrible old woman made him afraid, especially did her last words make him afraid, because he who was experienced in such matters knew that she had come with no intention of uttering them, that they had burst from her lips in a sudden semi-trance such as overtakes her sisterhood from time to time. He knew what that meant, that Death had marked them, and that they were called elsewhere, he or Isobel, or both.
"I must be going," he repeated.
"Yes, yes, you must be going--you who are going so far. The hungry fish must go after the bait, must it not, and oh! the hook it does not see.
But, my leetle big G.o.dfrey, one moment. Your loving old G.o.dmamma, she tumble on the evil day ever since that cursed old Pasteur"--here her pale face twisted and her eyes grew wicked--"let loose the law-dogs on me. I want money, my G.o.dson. Here is an address," and she thrust a piece of paper upon him.
He threw it down and stamped on it. In his pocket was a leather case full of bank-notes. He drew out a handful of them and held them to her.
She s.n.a.t.c.hed them as a hungry hawk s.n.a.t.c.hes meat, with a fierce and curious swiftness.
Then at last he escaped, and in another minute, amidst the cheers of the crowd, was driving away at the side of the stately Isobel.
At the Hall, where one of the wards had been cleared for the purpose, there was a little informal reception, at which for a while G.o.dfrey found himself officiating alone, since Isobel had disappeared with General Cubitte and the brother officer who had acted as his best man.
When at length they returned he asked her where she had been, rather sharply perhaps, for his nerves were on edge.
"To see to some business with the lawyer," she answered.
"What business, dear?" he inquired. "I thought you settled all that this morning?"
"It could not be settled this morning, G.o.dfrey, because a will can only be signed after marriage."
"Good gracious!" he exclaimed. "Give me a gla.s.s of champagne."
An hour later they were motoring to London alone, at last alone, and to this pair Heaven opened its seventh door.
They dined in the private sitting-room of the suit which under the inspiration of Isobel he had taken at a London hotel, and then after the curious-eyed waiters had cleared the table, sat together in front of the fire, hand in hand, but not talking very much. At length Isobel rose and they embraced each other.
"I am going to bed now," she said; "but before you come, and perhaps we forget about such matters, I want you to kneel down with me and say a prayer."
He obeyed as a child might, though wondering, for somehow he had never connected Isobel and Prayer in his mind. There they knelt in front of the fire, as reverently as though it burned upon an altar, and Isobel said her prayer aloud. It ran thus:
"O Unknown G.o.d Whom always I have sought and Whom now I think that I have found, or am near to finding; O Power that sent me forth to taste of Life and gather Knowledge, and Who at Thine own hour wilt call me back again, hear the prayer of Isobel and of G.o.dfrey her lover. This is what they ask of Thee: that be their time together on the earth long or short, it may endure for ever in the lives and lands beyond the earth.
They ask also that all their sins, known and unknown, great or small, may be forgiven them, and that with Thy gifts they may do good, and that if children come to them, they may be blessed in such fashion as Thou seest well, and afterwards endure with them through all the existences to be. O Giver of Life and Love Eternal, hear this, the solemn marriage prayer of G.o.dfrey and of Isobel."
Then she rose and with one long look, left him, seeming to his eyes no more a woman, as ten thousand women are, but a very Fire of spiritual love incarnate in a veil of flesh.
CHAPTER XX
ORDERS
G.o.dfrey and his wife never went to Cornwall after all, for on Christmas Day the weather turned so bad and travelling was so difficult that they determined to stop where they were for a few days.
As for them the roof of this London hotel had become synonymous with that of the crystal dome of heaven, this did not matter in the least.
There they sat in their hideous, over-gilded, private sitting-room, or, when the weather was clear enough, went for walks in the Park, and once to the South Kensington Museum, where they enjoyed themselves very thoroughly.
It was on the fourth morning after their marriage that the blow fell.
G.o.dfrey had waked early, and lay watching his wife at his side. The grey light from the uncurtained window, which they had opened to air the over-heated room, revealed her in outline but not in detail and made her fine face mysterious, framed as it was in her yellow hair. He watched it with a kind of rapture, till at length she sighed and stirred, then began to murmur in her sleep.