The Miracle at St. Bruno's (28 page)

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.

My mother was shocked. A wedding must be prepared for. What of my dowry? What of the formalities to which well-brought-up people must submit?”

“I want no dowry,” said Bruno. “I want only Damask.”

The effect on Simon Caseman was what I would have expected. At first he was angry. He had lost the Abbey on which he had set his heart; and that he had lost it to Bruno, the penniless waif, the bastard of a serving girl and a monk was impossible for him to believe at first.

“It’s a hoax,” he declared. “We shall find that he is deceiving us. How could it be possible?”

“People say,” said my mother timidly, “that with him everything is possible.”

“It’s a trick!” insisted Simon.

But when he had to accept the fact that it was indeed true a smoldering silence was his response. When he learned that I was to marry Bruno he said nothing but I knew that he was far from unmoved; and if I had not been in such a state of bliss I might have been apprehensive, for I was certain that he was a dangerous man.

Rupert was bewildered. “It seems so incredible, Damask,” he said.

I repeated what Bruno had told us about finding good fortune in London and pleasing the King.

“It’s impossible,” said Rupert. “Such a thing could not possibly happen in such a short time. Even Thomas Wolsey, whose rise was phenomenal, did not succeed like that.”

“Bruno is not like ordinary people.”

“I don’t like it, Damask. It smacks of witchcraft.”

“Oh, no, Rupert! We just have to accept that Bruno is different from the rest of us.”

“Damask, are you truly happy?”

“As I never believed it possible to be after my father died.” Rupert did not answer. He was very unhappy, I know. His dream that he and I should one day marry was shattered; but it was more than that. His nature was such that while he saw his own plans for his future life in ruins he could still be apprehensive for that which I had chosen.

As soon as the harvest was over he would go to the Remus estate. Then I supposed I should see very little of him.

It has always surprised me how when something becomes a fact—however mysteriously it happens, however fantastic it is—in a short time people grow accustomed to it and cease to regard it with wonder.

So it was with the return of Bruno and his acquisition of the Abbey.

Bruno had taken the name of Kingsman. It had not occurred to me before that he had no surname. I suppose he should have had that of Keziah but he refused to take it. He told me why he was called Kingsman. When he had gone to France on the King’s service His Majesty had been so delighted with him on his return that he had granted him an audience and asked his name. Bruno had told him that he did not know his parents and that he had had no need of a name until that moment. He had decided to call himself the King’s man. This delighted the King who had greatly approved, and had increased his favor with His Majesty and had made the way to acquiring the Abbey easy.

“There is so much I want to know,” I said.

“You will know in time,” Bruno replied.

He was eager to show me the Abbey. “Your new home,” he called it, and together we wandered through that vast estate.

“There are bricks here in plenty,” said Bruno, “to build us as fine a mansion as you could wish.”

“Will that not be costly?”

“There is one thing you will have to learn, Damask. Never apply the same standards to me as you must to other men.”

“You talk as though you have endless wealth.”

He pressed my hand. “Much will be revealed to you.”

“Now you talk like a prophet.”

He smiled and the look of pride was on his face.

We would leave the church tower, he said, which was particularly fine and Norman; we would leave the Lady Chapel too because a house of this size would need its chapel; but the lay brothers’ dorter, their infirmary and kitchens would be demolished. The monks’ dorter and refectory would in time be the servants’ quarters. He had grand plans. We should see great changes during the next months. I should help him plan our new establishment.

“You will marry a rich man after all, Damask,” he said. “And you believed, did you not, that you were to marry a poor one?”

“Why did you tell me this? Why did you think it necessary to test me?”

“I wanted to be sure that you wished to come to me…for myself only.”

“And you—who know so much—did not know that I would do that!”

“In truth I never doubted you. I knew…because I know these things. But I wanted to hear you say it. I wanted you to know yourself.”

“None knows me better, Bruno.”

“Perhaps I do.”

He was smiling enigmatically now—the mystic.

I insisted on his giving me details of his rise to fortune.

He hesitated but finally he told me, and his story was, as Rupert had pointed out, incredible.

When it was known that Rolf Weaver was in the Abbey and that his purpose was to make an inventory of the treasures there and divert them from St. Bruno’s Abbey to the King, there had been time to secret some of the jewelry into hiding places in the tunnels and cellars. The Abbot died and because of the scandal created by Ambrose and Keziah it was known there would be no compensation for anyone there. All the monks would be turned adrift to fend for themselves. Brother Valerian had therefore given each monk a few jewels which would perhaps give him a start so that he might not die of starvation and have to suffer the indignity of begging. Had this been discovered death would have been the reward of those who had jewels in their possession but the desperate nature of their situation made them ready to take that risk.

As I knew, Bruno had come to our house for a while. There he had kept the jewels secreted on his person and later he had left us to go into London. He had reason to believe that Brother Valerian had given him jewels of some special value; he knew too that several monks had been discovered selling jewels from abbeys and monasteries and had been condemned to death for this, so he delayed before selling and came to our house that he might have somewhere to live during that waiting period. He then tried the smallest of the jewels in his possession and this realized enough money to take him abroad. He had decided to go to France, Italy or the Low Countries and there sell the remainder of the jewels in his possession.

He had when in London made the acquaintance of one of the King’s most important ministers who, aware of who he was and being convinced that the confession of Keziah and Ambrose had been wrung from them by torture, befriended him; and hearing that he was going abroad suggested that he might take a message to an important minister who served the Emperor Charles.

This Bruno had done so successfully that he was brought to the King’s notice and the King had received him and thanked him personally for the service rendered. Now that he was growing older and he suffered so acutely from the abscess in his leg, the King had grown more interested in booklore and the erudition of Bruno had attracted him. They had even enjoyed a very pleasant discourse on theology and Bruno, being well versed in the King’s own book which had years ago earned for him the title of Defender of the Faith, the King found the conversation very agreeable.

Bruno disposed of more jewels advantageously and was able to live like a man of some means, so no surprise was shown when he let it be known that he was interested in acquiring an estate and that Abbey lands would suit him very well.

St. Bruno’s had not yet an owner and was available to someone who could pay what was necessary.

“So,” he finished, “that is why I am here and the mansion which will arise from the ashes of the old Abbey will be my home, your home and that of our children.”

It was a strange story and had it been anyone but Bruno, would have been hard to believe; but when told it I was ready to accept the fact that with him—who was different from other mortals—nothing was too strange to be true.

There was the excitement of wedding preparations. My mother was ready to forget everything in her desire to do all that was necessary.

That I was to live near by delighted her; that I was to marry a man of great wealth—for so it seemed—pleased her too. She had been secretly worried about my dowry.

Now there was the bridecake to be made and my dress to be planned, she was in a fever of excitement—so much so that she did not even notice the glowering looks of her husband.

Clement was determined to excel himself. He and Eugene had already spoken to Bruno. As soon as the wedding was over they wanted to come to the Abbey. We should need masters of our bake and brew houses. And who knew the Abbey’s better than they?

To be back would be glorious for them both; Clement was a man who could settle in anywhere, but Eugene had suffered nostalgia. To be back, to serve their young master. I overheard them as they discussed it. “It’s a miracle,” whispered Eugene.

“And what do you expect but miracles with that one?” answered Clement.

Kate and Lord Remus came to Caseman Court for the wedding.

On the first day of their arrival Kate was up in my room—the door shutting us in—she stretched on my bed and I in the window seat as in the old days.

“You, Damask!” she cried. “
You
to marry Bruno! I can’t believe it.”

“Why be so incredulous? You have come to a wedding, yet you are surprised to find there is to be a bridegroom.”

“That bridegroom!” she said. “And to think of it! He is rich. Is he as rich as Remus? To buy the Abbey! How is it
possible?
”

“You know Bruno is not as other men. When he wants something he takes it.”

“Not always,” she contradicted.

“You must admit he has the Abbey. He always wanted it. In the old days he believed he would be the Abbot. Now he owns it.”

“But how could he have bought it? It must have been presented to him. Some have been given abbeys for good service. What service could Bruno have rendered the King?”

“He went on a mission to France.”

“What does Bruno know of missions to France?”

“You don’t know Bruno.”

“I don’t know Bruno! I know more of Bruno than you will ever know.”

“I suppose you would know my husband better than I.”

“You can be a simpleton at times, Damask.”

“And you are so wise.”

It was like the old days. But there was something different about Kate. She did not like my marriage.

I took her over to see the Abbey and walked on that spot where we used to play. Bruno joined us there.

“Now,” said Kate, “we are three grown-up people. What a lot has happened since we played as children here.”

“You have become Lady Remus,” said Bruno.

“And a mother,” she answered. “And you have become the owner of this great Abbey.”

“That surprises you, does it not?”

“Greatly.”

“Damask was less surprised.”

“Why, Bruno,” I said, “I was astounded.”

But he went on: “Damask does not care for worldly possessions as you do, Kate. What do you think now of the penniless boy who took shelter in your home?”

“I think,” said Kate, “that he was sly. He had jewels in his possession, it seems, on which he founded his fortune. He should not have kept that to himself.”

They were regarding each other intently and I said: “That is all in the past.”

Bruno turned to me. “And our future, Damask…yours and mine…is here in this place. Together we will build the finest house that ever was seen and even Remus Castle will seem insignificant beside it.”