The Miracle at St. Bruno's

It occurred to me then that he needed to believe himself to be apart. He was proud, I know, and the fact that Keziah had claimed him as her son humiliated him so deeply that he refused to accept it.

I was trying to attach human motives to his actions. But was he after all superhuman?

I was alternately exultant and apprehensive. I kept to my room. I did not wish to see Rupert nor my stepfather. As for my mother, her chatter irritated me. I could only long for Bruno to come to me.

It was three days after that night when Bruno and I had made our vows, Simon Caseman had remained in his room ever since nursing his ankle, which I suspected was not as incapacitating as he made it out to be.

I was in my room when one of the maids came out and told me that there was a visitor in the winter parlor. My mother was there and had sent for me to join them.

I was unprepared for what was waiting me.

As I reached the winter parlor my mother came to the door. Her face was a study of perplexity.

"The new owner of the Abbey is here," she stuttered.

I went in. Bruno rose from his chair to greet me.

Events had taken such a strange turn that I felt I could believe anything, however fantastic. Bruno, the child of the Abbey, turned adrift into poverty, who only a few nights previously had asked me to share a life of hardship with him, was the owner of the Abbey!

At first I thought it was some joke. How could it be possible?

As I stood facing him in the winter parlor I said something like this. He smiled at me then.

"Is it true then that you doubt me, Damask?" he had said reproachfully.

And I knew that he meant doubt his ability to rise above all other men, doubt his special powers.

Fortunately my mother's inborn habits and her insistence on the correct manner in which to receive guests got the better of all else. She would ring for her elderberry wine to be brought.

And while we drank it Bruno told us of his good fortune, of how he had prospered in London; how he had gone to France on the King's business and because he had executed that business with an especial skill he had been in a position to acquire the Abbey.

From anyone else it would have sounded incredible but his presence, his assurance and that air which was unlike anyone else's insisted on our belief.

I could see that my mother did not doubt it at all.

"And all that land... all those buildings that make up the Abbey," she said.

"I have plans," he answered, smiling.

"And the gardens?”

"Yes, there will be gardens.”

"You will live there alone?”

"I am planning to marry. It is one of the reasons I have called on you today.”

He was smiling at me and my heart was lifted. All the misery of the past fell away from me then.

"I have come to ask you for Damask's hand in marriage.”

"But this is all so... unexpected. I must consult my husband.”

"There is no need," I said. "Bruno and I had already decided to marry.”

"You... you knew...," stammered my mother.

"I knew that he would ask my hand and I had already made up my mind to accept him.”

I held out my hand; he took it. It seemed symbolic. Then I saw the look of pride in his eyes; he held his head high. He was so clearly delighted by the effect this had on us. And why had he not told me on that night that he was the new owner of the Abbey? Clearly because he had wanted to be sure that it was for himself that I would marry him. It was his pride-his human pride. And I was glad.

He was so proud now that momentarily I was reminded of the peacocks strutting on the lawn. There was no divinity in such an attitude surely, I thought tenderly.

It was a human attitude and it pleased me for that reason. I wanted him to be human.

I did not want a saint or a miracle man. That's what I would teach him. I wanted a husband whom I could love and care for, who was not all-powerful, who needed me.

There was so much to learn, so many explanations to hear, but for that moment in the winter parlor, I was happy as I had never thought to be again.

It was the only topic of conversation. Bruno, the child who had been discovered in the Christmas crib, was the new owner of the Abbey.

Of course, said the wiseacres, it was another miracle. They had never trusted Keziah. She had been made to confess under torture. It had seemed strange that the Abbey had had to be dissolved but the divine purpose was rarely other than mysterious. Now they would see... what they would see. He, who had clearly been intended to rule the Abbey, was back, and it all had a seemingly natural appearance which was often the way of miracles.

Bruno was lighthearted. Here was another side to his nature. He had never been like this in the old days.

He made plans. He was going to build from the stones of the Abbey a mighty mansion.

Like the phoenix of old a new Abbey would arise to replace the old one.

I lived a fantastic existence during those months. Bruno wanted the wedding to take place immediately.