Part 41 (1/2)
”It _is_ true,” he said. ”We went through the marriage ceremony here, three weeks ago, she and I, as this man will tell you. I am a Scot, and I claim her as my wife by the law of Scotland, unless she will swear to me now, before G.o.d, that she loves you and wants you for her husband. If she can swear that, I will take steps to release her. What do you say, Barrie?”
”I--I _like_ Basil very much,” I stammered. ”I was willing--I am willing--to marry him.”
”I didn't ask if you liked, but if you loved, him. Do you?”
”I--I want to marry him,” I exclaimed, strength flowing into me as I thought of Mrs. West. ”Don't be afraid, Mr. Somerled. I've troubled you enough. Even if we really are married, I would rather die than hold you.
I know everything--how it was about me you quarrelled with _her_. But I've spoiled only a few weeks of your life. I won't spoil the rest. It is she who ought to be your wife, not I.”
”Who has said that to you?” he asked.
”It is her own idea!” Mrs. West cried.
”Then it is a very foolish idea,” said he. ”Mrs. West and I never had it. If you love Basil Norman, Barrie, I won't stand in your way. But if you don't love him, by heaven he shan't take you from me.”
”There's no question of taking her from you. She doesn't belong to you,”
Basil flung back at him. ”For a marriage to be legal one of the persons concerned must have lived in Scotland for twenty-one days----”
”I lived in Scotland seventeen years.”
”But not directly before that foolish business here----”
”I have never been without a holding in Scotland. Dunelin Castle has been mine by lease for years. Now it's mine by right of owners.h.i.+p.
Whether our marriage was legal or not will have to be settled by Scottish Law before the girl can marry any one else, and I shall fight in the courts for my rights if you dispute them.”
”Are you going to throw me over, Barrie?” Basil asked.
”You shall not put it to her like that!” said my knight. ”Barrie, you haven't answered my question. Do you love him?”
”No,” I faltered. I could not lie.
”Do you love me?”
”You're cruel to ask me that, when you----”
”When you ought to have seen long ago, that I was at your feet, that I was mad for you, that you were my one thought. I tried not to be a brute as well as a fool, so I stood aside and gave all the other men who were younger, and perhaps worthier, their chance. If you had loved anybody else I'd have let you alone. But I don't think one of those men made good. Do you love me, Barrie? Answer me now, as if we were alone together?”
”Yes,” I whispered.
He caught me in his arms, and kissed me on the mouth, holding me close against his breast.
”Then,” he said, ”I am your husband. Are you my wife? I ask you before these witnesses, who know us both.”
”I am your wife,” I repeated after him.
”This time,” he exclaimed, ”we are safely married, and not all the world can part us now.”
Basil and Aline went away before we did. Aline said she was going to Glasgow, to tell Barbara how I had treated them, and to see the man she was engaged to marry: that it was all a mistake, if not a deliberate falsehood on my part, about her thinking Ian cared for her. Basil went with her, not saying anything at all, except:
”Good-bye, Barrie. Some day perhaps you'll understand and forgive me. I always had a presentiment that I shouldn't be able to bring it off at the last; that Somerled would cut in and s.n.a.t.c.h you away from me.”
Ian suggested taking me to Carlisle, only eight miles away, to stay with Grandma until we could have a more conventional wedding. But when I said, ”_Aren't_ we really and truly married, then?” in a frightened voice, he said, ”Of course we are, my darling child--married as fast as if by book and bell. Nothing can part us. I shall never let you go out of my sight for five minutes after this--unless you want to go.”