Behind the Stained Glass Window

"Tonight…this night…
I can write and describe the entire world.
Two green eyes. Her brown hair.
Behind the window,through the glass…"

G. P. Moci

※※※※※

This question is one that has always intrigued me. What does lie behind the glowing, stained glass window, at the back of Vincent's chamber?

Some have speculated that it could look down into the dining hall. That is a reasonable idea, given the warm glow that never seems to diminish. But would that not be too noisy for a bed chamber, to be situated above such organised chaos? And if this was so, then would we not have heard some of the goings-on in that busy place, when Catherine was lying in Vincent's chamber? All she heard was the tapping that never stopped, and the sounds of the overhead trains.

Maybe the glow of the window is simply a reflection from the lights hung all around Vincent's room. They never seem to be extinguished, even though Vincent can see perfectly well in the dark.

When Vincent lost patience with life and broke the window in Remember Love, all that could be seen through the shattered glass was a sparse, stone corridor. This is feasible, it could simply be a lit pathway behind the chamber that leads to somewhere else. But then, that was in a dream, or a vision, so can we rely on such information? We simply saw what Vincent was seeing.

All these are valid arguments. But, I prefer to think that perhaps it's Vincent's private bathing chamber hidden behind the window. We never quite see into that back, left-hand corner, where a door or a curtain could easily be hidden. Perhaps there's a simple fold-back in the rock wall.

Then, the window could be lit from behind, from within the bathroom. It would make sense. It would take a brave man indeed, who would go stumbling around in the dark of a lightless back chamber, trying to find the commode in the middle of the night!

It would be very sensible to have a lantern or two burning in the night. And, if this is so, then Catherine could have used it, perhaps with help from Mary. It would have been wise to have her kept close, and away from the attention of the others who lived Below. Father had stipulated that order.

In this hidden chamber then, there would be a huge, claw-foot bath-tub, fit for a king. As befitting such a tall man. This would have been a cast-off that would have been *found* somewhere Above, or in between. It would have been smuggled down, to keep it from Father's critical eyes. Perhaps there is also a stone-walled shower room, again created in just the right proportions for a large man. This may have been a later addition of Vincent's own design, useful for a someone who has so many duties to perform, and very little time for himself.

There would be an antique, Victorian porcelain hand-basin of huge proportions. And then the commode… again that type of over-the-top Victorian melodrama, over-burdened with blue florals and heavy porcelain design. Like the bath, it would also be valuable, but who would care? It was useful, and that was all that mattered. Warm water in winter was always better than bathing in the chill of the Great Falls.

It would also make sense that there wouldn't be any mirrors in this hidden bathroom, as there were none in Vincent's main chamber. He had no use for mirrors, he knew what he looked like. If there had been a mirror, perhaps a great gilded glass contraption, Vincent would have gifted that to someone else in the tunnel family.

Then, we turn to another slant on the story of that mysterious stained glass window. It has been speculated that this large, well-appointed chamber may have once belonged primarily to Devin. Unlike the other children of the tunnels, Devin would have decided, very early on, that he and Vincent would need their own space, their own chamber.

Vincent stayed on when Devin disappeared. Maybe he wished to remain close to the memory of his vanished brother, despite the memories the chamber would invoke. Who knows what plots and mischief were hatched under the covers of a cold night, by the light of the brazier, flickering in the glass of the window? Was the daring carousel adventure that could have gone so very wrong, been invented in that room?

Who knows? But Devin seems to have been a young man of large ideas, which he often determined to put into action. Surely his own bathroom would be a nice addition to their place of residence. He would have set about creating it with his usual vigor. No doubt his father disapproved of such extravagance, so it would have been done in secret.

Who truly knows how it came to be, or what is truly behind that glass window? It keeps its own counsel, and so far, has not be willing to share any of its secrets with us…

Until now…

※※※※※

"There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle…"

Albert Einstein