The Miracle at St. Bruno's

We made our way to the burial ground and I stood by holding the lantern while Rupert dug a grave.

I myself held the box which held that precious relic. Then together we prayed and called for a blessing on that great good man.

I shall never forget the sound of clods of earth falling on the box; and at that sound the tears started to my eyes.

I think from that moment I began to feel that I could face life again.

Each day I went to the monks' burial ground. I planted a rosemary on the grave. I used to kneel beside it and talk to my father as I had when he was alive. I asked for courage so that I could go on living my life without him.

THE STEPFATHER

A WEEK AFTER that night when we had buried my father's head Kate came and declared her intention to take me back to Remus Castle.

I said I would stay where I was for I wanted to visit the spot where my father's head was buried.

But Kate was determined.

"You are coming back with me," she declared. "Young Carey misses you. Betsy says she has not had one peaceful night since you left.”

At length I was persuaded and I left with Kate for Remus.

Kate swore that little Carey was happy now that I had returned, but I said he was far too young for that; but I did find comfort in the child. Kate took great pains to please me. She coaxed me into showing some interest in the gowns she had had made for her. She insisted that I admire the jewelry Remus gave her.

She was going to Court soon. Though she complained the Court had become dull.

"The King," she said, "finds great pleasure in his new wife and makes excuses to be alone with her. This takes a great burden off his courtiers but means there is less entertainment; and he's in a good mood too, except when the ulcer on his leg is painful, but the Queen knows how to comfort him. She is young and very pretty but I have heard she has had some experience in offering comfort before her marriage.”

But I could not bear to talk of the King. I regarded him as my father's murderer and I was filled with a hatred toward him which had it been known would have doubtless meant a sojourn m the Tower for me and my head on a pike over London Bridge.

There was a certain amount of talk too about the new laws against heretics. A heretic was one who did not accept the King as Supreme Head of the Church, be he Papist or anti-Papist.

"It's a very simple rule," said Kate. "The King is right whatever he does. Whatever he says is the truth and all those who contradict are traitors. It's all one has to remember.”

And I was sure that there had never been a time so fraught with danger as these in which we lived.

In Remus Castle we seemed away from the world. I did love the baby and I began to believe that he had special feeling for me. It was true that if he were bawling lustily, which he often did, and I picked him up he would stop and something like a smile would touch his features. Kate was proud of the child in an offhand sort of way.

She left him to the nurses but because I was interested in him and wanted him often with me, she saw more of him than she would otherwise have done.

His christening in the castle chapel was a grand affair and as many people from Court were present, I made the acquaintance of Dukes and Earls who before had been merely names to me. Their conversation was chiefly about the King and the new Queen. It was amazing how people could not prevent themselves discussing subjects which they knew could be dangerous. They reminded me of moths flying to a candle.

The Queen, it seemed, had a definite charm which enthralled the King. She was not pretty by any means, she lacked the elegance of Queen Anne Boleyn, but the King had not been so delighted with any of his wives as he was with Katharine Howard -apart from Anne Boleyn before their marriage perhaps. The new Queen had a way with her, I gathered. She was good-natured, easygoing, sensuous--just what an old man needed to revive his youth and that, it seemed, was what Katharine Howard was doing for King Henry. As for the last Queen, Anne of Cleves, she was thoroughly enjoying her life at Richmond Palace and delighted to call herself the King's sister as she congratulated herself on her lucky escape.

There was, it was true, an insurrection on Yorkshire, when men rose to protest against the new Supreme Head of the Church, but that was quickly suppressed and the requisite amount of blood shed to ensure that the people understood what happened to those who opposed the King.

But now that the King had found a wife who pleased him so much that he did not want to change her, life seemed to have become more peaceful.

Six weeks had passed since my father's death and then one day Lord Remus came out to the pond garden while Kate and I sat there with the baby in his basket and said: "I have grave news for you, Damask.”

My heart pounded in fear; but even then I wondered what else could happen that could seem of any real importance to me.

Lord Remus was frowning. He did not seem to know how to begin.