Gemma heads to St. David's Well following the completion of her exams. She feels elated and free from the burden of studying and she’s confident in her performance on the Latin portion. When she returns to Weem, however, she finds the house empty. Without anyone to celebrate with, Gemma feels restless and she resolves to "walk up the hill to St. David's Well," in hopes that "[p]erhaps the local deity would calm [her]" (Livesey 383). There she lays "small blue flowers on the rock by the well" as a sort of offering and stares into the pool and says, "Please let me find a way to go to Iceland" (384 Livesey). 

Soon after, Archie appears and (seemingly) grants her wish. He says to Gemma: "I'd like to celebrate your exams results by inviting you to go to Iceland as—" (Livesey 385). Gemma interrupts him with an affirmative answer. Readers soon find out that the end of the sentence that Gemma didn't hear, was that Archie wants her to accompany him as his wife, much like St. John wanted Jane to accompany him to India in Jane Eyre. St. David's Well is a site of some of the book’s mysticism since Gemma is granted her wish almost instantaneously. It is also significant as the site of his marriage proposal, even if she didn't recognize it as such at the time. 

St. David's Well isn't a well like one might imagine—it’s not a neat little circle of rocks with a roof and a bucket to get water. It's more of a natural well, bordered on one side by a rocky wall with an overhanging precipice. There is shallow spring water inside and a large flat rock to the side, where Gemma may have set her flowers. The spiritual power and name of the location is said to come from the fact that bones were found there, believed to belong to the "former laird turned monk," St. David, "who had a chapel at the base of the rock called Craig-an-Teuapail" (Weem, St. David's Well). 

Livesey, Margot. The Flight of Gemma Hardy: A Novel. HarperPerennial, 2013.

“Weem, St David's Well.” Canmore, Historic Environment Scotland. canmore.org.uk/site/25672/weem-st-davids-well.