The Miracle at St. Bruno's Read Online Free PDF Page B

through onto Abbey land.
    I stood on the other side of the door. “We are not supposed to. It’s trespassing.”
    She laughed at me. “Of course I knew you’d be a coward. I wonder I bother with you, Damask Farland.”
    I was already stepping through the door and when I had done so the ivy swept back into place covering it. I looked about me, expecting the Abbey land to be different from any other. The grass was the same luscious green; the trees about to break into leaf. No one would guess that we were in what had always seemed to be sacred ground.
    “Come on,” said Kate and seizing my hand drew me across the grass. I followed her reluctantly. We went through the trees and suddenly she stopped because we had come in sight of the gray walls of the Abbey. “Better not go too near. They might see us and find out how we got in. They might stop up the door. That would never do, for I intend to come here whenever I wish.”
    We drew back into the shelter of the bushes and sat down on the grass. Kate watched me intently, knowing exactly how I was feeling and that I was really longing to go back through the door because I hated being where I knew I should not be.
    “I wonder what musty old John and James would say if they found us here?” said Kate.
    A voice behind us startled us. “They would take you down to the dungeons and hang you up by your wrists and there you would stay until your hands dropped off and you fell to the ground…dead.”
    We turned around and standing behind us was the boy.
    “What are you doing here?” demanded Kate. She did not scramble to her feet as I did. She merely sat there calmly looking up at him.
    “You ask such a question of me? ” said the boy haughtily. “That I find amusing.”
    “You should never creep up on people,” said Kate. “It could be alarming.”
    “Particularly when they are where they should not be.”
    “Who says not? The Abbey door should always be open.”
    “To those who are in need,” said the boy. “Are you in need?”
    “I’m always in need…of something different…something exciting. Life is very dull.”
    I was hot with indignation for I thought her very ungrateful and I resented the reference to life in our household.
    “My parents are very good to you,” I said. “If they hadn’t taken you in….”
    Kate’s mocking laughter rang out. “My brother and I are not beggars. Your father is paid well to manage our estate. Besides he is a sort of cousin.”
    The boy had turned his gaze from Kate to me and I felt a strange exultation possess me. I thought of his being placed in the Christmas crib by angels and a great destiny awaiting him. There was a quality about him of which, young as I was, I was aware. He was aloof, seeming to be conscious of the difference between himself and ordinary mortals. It was a sort of sublime arrogance. Kate had it too but hers was the result of her beauty and vitality. Although I was apprehensive I rejoiced that Kate had found the door in the wall and thus given me a chance to see him so closely. He seemed a good deal older than I although there was not a year between us. He was taller than Kate and capable of subduing even her.
    Kate was bubbling over with questions. What was it like to be a holy child? she wanted to know. Did he remember anything about Heaven because he must have come from there, mustn’t he? What was God like? What about the angels? Were they really as good as people said they were? That must be very dull .
    He studied her with a sort of amused tolerance. “I cannot speak of these things to you,” he said coldly.
    “Why not? Holy people ought to be able to do anything. Being holy seems to be no different from anything else.”
    She was deeply impressed by him however much she might pretend not to be, and it must have been clear to her that she could not tease or torment him as she did me. He was too grave and yet there was a strange gleam in his eyes which I couldn’t understand. I thought of