“Thou art young,” remarked Adiva, with an upward lift of the head. “Wisdom thou wilt acquire as thou growest older. Denewulf was good enow as a husband when a swineherd, but few were the mancuses and pence that came our way. Now doth he wear the bishop’s stole and all bow down to him. Well-a-day, child! It doth make a difference. But thou hast not yet said that them wouldst stay with me. To tell the truth,” she lowered her voice, “there are times when lonely I be in spite of greatness.”
“If it will please thee, then will it please me,” answered the maiden. “Weary am I of wandering, and fain would I dwell where friends abide, if it so be that I may not see the king nor Edward. It hath seemed to me of late, Adiva, that in some way I should show my gratitude to God for His mercy to me. Some service would I render Him for His judgment. Why, Adiva, when I think that there was not even a scar, I wonder what I have done that so great a favor should be shown me.”
“Trouble not thy head about it,” said the dame, hastily. “Oft have I heard that such things were past finding out. Why, Denewulf, bishop though he be, wottest not the why of many things!”
“The maiden is right,” said Denewulf, entering at this moment. “I, too, Egwina, have thought of the miracle, for such it was, and it hath seemed to me that thou wert spared that thou mightest give Him thy service. To chaste and holy Mary thy life should belong. Thou seekest repose, my child; find it in the cloister.”
“The cloister!” Adiva threw up her arms in dismay. “Yon pretty child? Denewulf, what aileth thee?”
“Naught,” answered the bishop, promptly. “Naught but desire for the best for Egwina. Wonderfully hath she been favored. It can be for naught else than that she should devote her life to the service of Heaven.”
“Denewulf, hast thou gone daft?” demanded Adiva, with some asperity. “Egwina a nun? I trow not!”
“But, Adiva,” said the gentle voice of Egwina, “why have I been so favored? Not even a scar, as thou knowest, nor mark of any kind. I felt that God would show mine innocence, but so marked was His favor that it hath troubled me to know the cause. It may be that for this service was I thus favored.”
“And dost thou think of becoming a nun?” cried the dame, in consternation.
“If Denewulf thinketh best, and that for this cause was the miracle performed, I will so do,” answered the maiden.