"I hurried over to tell you that we have had further news. Nothing very
definite to-day; but the Washington people hope to have a lot of detail
by to-morrow night. So be ready, old chap!" I thanked him, but even in
the act of doing so it struck me that he had taken a deal of trouble to
come over when he could have sent me a wire. I did not say so, however;
doubts of an act of this kind can always wait.
Sam had tea with me, and then we smoked a cigar outside on the little
terrace before the hotel. There were some fishermen and workmen, as
usual sitting on or leaning against the wall across the road, and three
men who were lounging about, evidently trippers waiting for their tea to
be served. When we came out and had passed them, the little group went
into the coffee room. They were, all three, keen-looking, alert men, and
I had a passing wonder what they were doing in Cruden as they had no
golf bags with them. Sam did not remain long but caught the six-ten
train back to Aberdeen.
I cannot say that my night was an easy one. Whilst I lay awake I
imagined new forms of danger to Marjory; and when I fell asleep I
dreamt them. I was up early, and after a sharp ride on my bicycle came
to Crom in time for breakfast.
As we had a long forenoon, Marjory took me over the house. It was all of
some interest, as it represented the life and needs of life in the later
days of Queen Elizabeth in a part of the country where wars and feuds
had to be prepared for. The Castle was arranged for siege, even to the
water supply; there was a well of immense depth situated in a deep
dungeon under the angle of the castle which they called the Keep. They
did not, however, ordinarily depend on this, as there was otherwise an
excellent water supply. In the dungeon were chains and manacles and some
implements of torture, all covered with the rust of centuries. We hoped
that they had not been used. Marjory consoled herself with the thought
that they had been placed there at the time of the building as part of
the necessary furnishing of a mediæval castle. One room, the library,
was of great interest. It had not been built for the purpose, for there
was no provision of light; but it must have been adapted to this use not
long after the place was built. The woodwork of carved oak was early
seventeenth century. I did not have time to look over the books, and
there was no catalogue; but from the few which I glanced at I could see
that whoever had gathered the library must have been a scholar and an
enthusiast.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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