Chapter 33
1601
Willie rushed into the room while I was on my knees, praying, and stood quietly at the end of the bed.
“Is she still…?”
I looked up at his anguished face and shook my head. “I was too late. And now we must think what to do.”
He was silent for a while, then, as I got to my feet, I saw him look up towards the window.
“Marie, it’s getting late. It’ll be dark soon and the wind’s getting up. The loch’s not a safe place to be on my wee boat at night. I wonder if we should maybe get back over to my cottage just now and come back first thing in the morning with, well, some sort of coffin?”
I had no idea what time it was, but could see his logic. I looked down again at poor Lilias, who now, at last, looked peaceful. I crossed myself.
“Kenneth’s waiting at the bottom of the stairs. He didn’t want to come anywhere near the boat with the dog still in it. I said we’d be leaving soon.”
I nodded and followed him towards the door. “Are there lodgings nearby where my man and I can stay?” I was trying not to worry too much about money. My meagre funds were fast running out and I still had to pay the lad for the horses and find the money for the boat back over to France.
“Not at all, Marie. You can stay at my cottage. I’ll go to my sister’s up the hill, it’s not far. I’ll be back at dawn to see what we can find in the way of wood. I should have something suitable round 152 the back, I can look in the morning light.”
We walked down the stairs to where Kenneth was skulking.
I stood directly in front of him and he stared up at me, shifty.
“We will be back in the morning. Do not go anywhere near her, do you hear me?” His eyes grew wide with fright. “Is she…?”
I lifted my head high and sighed. I had no desire to converse any further with this wretch.
I went through the postern gate and saw that it was already getting dark. The sun had gone and there were ominous black clouds building up in the sky. I strode towards the boat, where the dog sat up on his hind legs, wagging his tail when he saw Willie emerge through the gate. I stood on the pier and waited for his master to help me into the boat.
I settled down by the dog, holding onto the sides of the vessel as it rocked in the waves. The dog licked my hand and Willie pulled the oars into position. As he started to row, I saw Kenneth standing on the pier watching us, one hand on his chin, the other jiggling some keys attached to a heavy ring at his belt. Soon, his figure became smaller and smaller as the boat tilted and lurched and Willie heaved the oars through the water as the wind got up.
The next morning, I awoke to the sound of the wind howling around the cottage. I could hear banging as if something was being thrown around in the wind in the small courtyard at the back. I said my prayers in haste then went outside to see the dog lying on the ground beside Willie who was dragging some wooden planks out of a small shed. The shed door was swinging back and forth in the gale. The dog jumped up and began to wag his tail.
The strong gusts of wind made it difficult for him to hear me shouting, but soon he turned around. “Oh, you’re up, Marie,” he 153 cried over the wind. “How did you sleep?”
“Fine,” I said, telling an untruth, for I had tossed and turned in the narrow bed all night, trying to expunge the memory of Lilias’s dead body from my mind.
“I’m just getting the wood out. It shouldn’t take me long to put a box together. Your lad’s going to give me a hand. You go inside and have something to eat.” He put his hand in his pocket and pulled out a cloth. “My sister made these bannocks for you earlier. Here.”
I took the warm bundle from him and went back inside.
I had just finished the delicious bread when Willie came in.
“Marie, the gale’s still blowing. I think we’ll have to wait till the afternoon to go over. Especially with extra ballast in the boat, it’d be too tricky a crossing in the high wind.
“Of course,” I said. “You know what’s best.”
He then went outside, where I could vaguely make out voices, as he shouted instructions to my servant Johnnie over the wind.
I spent the morning thinking about what to do next. Obviously, I wanted to confront my nephew about the atrocity that he had clearly condoned. But I’d looked in my purse earlier and realised I had just about enough money to pay Johnnie for the horses and to settle the fare for my return boat to France. There was no way I could contemplate a six-day round trip, with attendant costs of lodgings and food, to reach Fyvie Castle. Also, I was only permitted leave from the convent for two weeks. The Abbess was now almost eighty and exceedingly frail, so she had granted me this one trip on the proviso that it must be short; she needed me to assist her in almost everything these days. Since she saw me as family, because of my relationship with her niece, the Queen, no one else could fill in.
I kept trying to work out what I would do after we got poor Lilias’s body out of that room and into the coffin, but then at the 154 very thought of her corpse I collapsed once more into tears. To try to alleviate my sadness, I spent much of the morning also praying for her soul, and for God to give me guidance.
After perhaps a couple of hours, Willie came back in and said the coffin was ready and the wind was beginning to die down sufficiently for us to row across to the island. Johnnie and he carried the coffin towards the boat as I plodded after them, my footsteps slow and sad. The dog was howling round the back in his kennel, since Willie had said there was no room for him and the box. The two of us sat in the boat, the wooden coffin balanced precariously in the middle. I held on to it as Willie rowed across the choppy water. As we drew nearer to the castle, I kept looking out for Kenneth coming through the gate, but it remained firmly shut, even when we arrived at the pier and Willie tied up the rope. He then hauled the box up onto the grass and helped me ashore.
“Well, this is strange, Marie. Kenneth’s boat isn’t tied up here. And he’s usually straight out here when he hears the oars,” he said, looking around. He walked towards the postern gate and tried the handle, but it was obviously locked.
“Where could he be, Willie?”
“I don’t know. But I know a way in through the wall round the back.”
“I thought the castle was completely secure? That’s why the Queen was brought here.”
“There’s just one tiny opening that hopefully I can still get through. One of the kitchen maids and I used to squeeze out that way and go to meet under the big sycamore tree at the back of the outer courtyard. I’ll see if any of the other gates are open, and if not, try to find that way in. You stay here for now. If Kenneth appears, tell him to come and find me round the back.”
I nodded and stood on the grass while Willie headed off towards the left. I was weary, so I sat down on the edge of the box, my back 155 to the castle, looking out over the loch. Thankfully the wind had died down a little and I noticed a swan was flying low over the water, coming from the far shore towards the island. I watched its graceful flight and its perfect landing on the shore just along from the pier. What a beautiful creature it was, so elegant and noble. It was such a contrast to the flapping and fighting of the cawing crows at the abbey. I was watching it waddle off over the grass just as the postern gate flung open and Willie stood there, a grave expression on his face.
“I think Kenneth’s gone. There’s no sign of him anywhere.”
A sudden feeling of dread overcame me. “Is her room unlocked?”
“I don’t know, Marie.” He gestured inside. “Shall we go up together?”
We went up the narrow staircase to the top floor and found the door to her room wide open. I swallowed; this was not good.
I tiptoed over towards the bed. She was gone.
“The scoundrel’s taken her body away. That’s why his boat wasn’t there,” Willie said, his face contorted in anguish.
And once I realised the implications of what had happened, my feelings turned from anger to sorrow, for there was nothing in the world we could possibly do now.