The Miracle at St. Bruno's

There was a rift between us now. Nothing would ever be the same again. Bruno was aware that he had allowed the mask to slip for a moment and had shown me something of the man beneath it. The child had done this. She had forced him to show himself vengeful and, worse still, afraid; and it was inevitable that our relationship must change from that moment. We were together less frequently. The child took up a great deal of my time. She was intelligent, quick and mischievous, and each day I was startled by her incredible beauty. She sensed Bruno's antagonism though they had scarcely seen each other since her arrival. In her mind I was sure he was regarded as some sort of ogre.

She would toddle around after me so that it was not easy for me not to be with her; I sensed that she was always a little uneasy if I were not present because her eyes would light up with a relieved pleasure when she saw me, which was very endearing.

Naturally the coming of a child had changed the household. It had been a very unusual one before but now it became more normal. Bruno consulted me about the building which had started and behaved as though there had never been the disagreement between us, but I realized that as the time passed he would have to see a great deal of Honey and it was no use trying to hide her from him.

He seemed to realize this and to accept the inevitability of the child's presence.

I was glad of this although the antagonism between them was apparent. In Bruno it showed in a feigned indifference but the child was too young to hide her feelings; she ran from him and when he was near kept close to my side.

So it remained an uneasy situation; but each day I loved the child more. I loved Bruno too, but differently. I found a strange sort of pity creeping into my emotions.

My mother announced that the christening of her twins was to take place and Kate wrote that she would be present, leaving Carey with his nurses and Remus to his business affairs. She would stay at Caseman Court of course, but her first call would be at the Abbey to see the bride.

Within a few days she had arrived and true to her word came at once to the Abbey.

She looked as elegant as ever in her fine velvet gown and beautiful too, flushed with the October wind which had caught little tendrils of hair escaping from under her headdress.

She came into the hall of the Abbot's Lodging and looked about her. I was on the landing at the top of the first flight of stairs and saw her a few seconds before she was aware of me.

"Kate," I cried. "You are more beautiful than ever!”

She grimaced. "I was fit to die of boredom. Even the Court has become deadly dull.

I have much to tell you, Damask. But first there is so much I wish to know.”

She looked at the great hall with its beautiful open timber roof, its molded arches and its carved pendants and corbels.

"So this was the old Abbot's Lodging. Very fine. I'll swear it compares favorably with Remus Castle. But what does it all mean? She caught my hand and looked at the ring on my finger. "You, Damask. You.”

"Why should you seem so surprised?”

"That he should marry at all. It had to be one of us, of course. And I was already married to Remus, so there was only you. But this mansion... how did he acquire it? He who was so poor. How did the Abbey fall into his hands?”

"It was a miracle," I said.

Her eyes were wide; she looked at me searchingly. "Another miracle?" she asked. "Impossible!

We were deluded about the first, weren't we? Do you know, Damask, I don't think I believe in miracles.”

"You were always irreverent.”

She gazed up at the carvings in the spandrels. "But it's beautiful. And this is your home now! Why did you not write and tell me what was happening? Why did you keep it to yourself? You should have warned me.”

"There was no time.”

"Well, I wish to hear everything now. This your home, Damask. Our old Abbey your home. Do you know they are saying, Damask, that the Abbey is becoming what it once was?”

"I know there are rumors.”

"Never mind rumors. Let us be together and talk. There is so much to tell.”

I took her up the great staircase with its beautifully carved balustrade to the solar where I had been sitting doing a piece of needlework-in fact making a dress for Honey-when she arrived. Although it was October the afternoon sun streamed into the long room and I led her to the window where I had been seated.

"Do you need refreshment, Kate?" I asked.

"Your mother's stillroom provided all I needed. How proud she is of her twins. Where is your husband?”

"He is very occupied during the day. There is so much to be done here. We did not know the Abbey in the old days, Kate. I was astonished when I realized its spaciousness.

There is going to be a great deal of work if we are to make it flourish as it did in the days of....”

She was watching me closely. "But it must not nourish as an abbey, must it?”