“I’m going to tell you all the reasons why that would be the best thing for us to do,” said Jocelyn. “I’ve talked it over with Harriet.”
“Harriet thinks we should marry!” I cried. “She really means we should do it without my parents’ consent!”
“Harriet is a wonderful person. That is the sort of thing she has been doing all her life, and did you ever know a more contented woman?”
“She has been very lucky, I think.”
“She has been bold. She has taken what she wanted from life and been content with it.”
“One cannot always take what one wants. There are others to be considered.”
“There are the two of us.”
“And my mother.”
“She has probably planned some marriage for you. I admit at the moment she would not want to see an alliance between her family and ours. But this madness is going to pass. Then I can tell you the Frintons are not without some standing.”
“Oh, Jocelyn, if only we could!”
“We’re going to talk about it. It’s wonderful that we have this time together.”
“Christabel had a headache. Apparently she has them badly now and then.”
“Kind Christabel! Perhaps she knew how much I wanted to be with you alone.”
We had come to what was left of the wall. We stepped over it. It was an impressive sight-those great stone walls which had once housed the monks now lay in ruins and yet there was enough of the abbey left for one to be able to reconstruct it in the mind. The remains of stone arches through which the grey sky could now be seen left memories of grandeur; here and there were stone flags, some as they must have been before the Dissolution; grass grew in between others. We found a room which was entered through a massive wooden door which had somehow withstood the winds and salt spray of centuries. It was open to the sky, the roof having long ago disappeared, but otherwise it was complete. The long slips of windows looked out on the sea.
“I was fascinated by it all,” said Jocelyn, “when I came over a few days ago for the first time. I thought it would be a good place to hide so I went over it very carefully. You get a certain amount of shelter here in this room, though if there was a strong wind it would whistle through those unglazed windows. I suppose that’s how they were long ago. The monks lived Spartan lives though, and must have been unaffected by the cold.” He turned to me and put his arms about me. “There,” he said, “you feel safe now, don’t you? We’re here alone … you and I on this island. The thought of that thrills me. It has seemed so long, Priscilla, and at times I wondered if I should ever see you again.”
I remembered the ring suddenly and a cold shiver ran through me. I had to confess without delay. I told him what had happened.
“Are you sure it’s behind this court cupboard?”
“Absolutely. There is nowhere else it could possibly be. They move it only once a year. It is very heavy.”
“When you find it, will you wear it?”
“I will. I was afraid to before. That’s really why it was lost. Leigh said that it would arouse comment and it did have your family name inside.”
“Oh, yes, it has been handed down through the family for generations. That’s why I wanted you to have it.”
I felt so relieved that he was not put out about the ring and I told myself that I must set aside my fears and enjoy this day.
“Oh, Jocelyn,” I cried, “isn’t it wonderful to be here … alone together!”
He kissed me tenderly. “And to know we have a few hours here,” he added.
“It is only just past midday,” I said. “What shall we do first?”
“Explore the island and talk and talk. Then we’ll have our picnic and talk some more, and I shall look at you all the time. I want to watch the way you smile. There’s the tiniest dimple at the side of your mouth when you do. I love the way your hair falls back from your face. It’s so different from those hideous curls they call ‘favourites’ at Court. I love your brown eyes, and I think how much more beautiful they are than blue ones.”
“You’re prejudiced,” I said. “I think you only like these things because they’re mine.”
“There could not be a better reason,” he replied.
I think we were both a little afraid of the emotions we aroused in each other. I was happy just to be with him, but I could not forget that he was a hunted man and that this was only a temporary refuge. I was tremendously excited by the thought of getting married. It seemed so impossible and yet why should it be? The circumstances were exceptional. I listened to the melancholy screeching of the gulls. It was as though they were warning me that there was not much tune.
If he went to France, I told myself, I could go with him. If we were married I most certainly would. But could I leave my family like that?
I wished that Leigh were there so that I could have talked to him. That struck me as strange, for when I was very young, secretly deep down in my heart I had promised myself that when I grew up I would marry Leigh.
We explored the abbey ruins. We found the refectory and the reading gallery.
