Page:Czecho-Slovak Student Life, Volume 18.djvu/162

suggest that the contents of that coat be inspected here in court”.

Kabel looked puzzled, Bandas irritated, the magistrate commanding. Among many odd cards and slips of paper in Kabel’s coat appeared the formal document which Claire had seen before. It was a contract drawn up in Chicago between Kabel and a publishing company of that city.

“This was drafted on the very night of the burglary”, announced the attorney. The soundness of the document could not be disputed. Kabel evidently had been 500 miles away on the night of the burglary. .

“Moreover”, resumed the girl, “I wish to draw your attention to the name-and-address label on the newspaper in which the chalices are wrapped”.

“Frank Mendel”, read the attorney after the chalices were brought in, “Rural Route No. 2. Warren, Minn.” *** And here is where Hilair paused to take a breath in his narration at the Convent that afternoon of the proceeding in court.

“And to think of it, Sister, that she had taken all those observations without telling me a word about it”, he added turning to Claire, who stood beside him winking merrily at the grateful Sister Amita. “And I tell you, Sister', he continued with still more gravity, “that I would have certainly gone to jail, for all I could help myself, instead of that long-fingered hired man of what’s his–name”

“Mr Mendel”, prompted Claire.

“It looked so much like a good joke at first that I didn’t make anything of it. But during the night in that stuffy, sweat-smelling jail of theirs I was simply undone. I lay awake all night, exhausting myself with intense but unrecordable meditations. And in the morning, I felt like one in a mad dream, remembering nothing but my plight. When Claire when Miss Gordon addressed the magistrate, I first began to sense the reality of the sickening comedy”. He noticed tears in the Sister’s eyes.

“Mr. Kabel”, said the sympathetic Sister Amita, “if you could only understand how we appreciate all you have undergone for us! For a week we all have prayed for the restorer of the sacred vessels, so you can imagine how thankful we are to you. If you were a Catholic, I am sure you could more clearly understand our anxiety over the loss, and our gratitude to you”.

“I realize more, perhaps, than you suspect, dear Sister”, he reassured earnestly. “In fact Claire has given me such a thorough insight into the mysterious importance of the Catholic Sacrifice, that I am more than interested. And I have displayed considerable interest in a chalice already; so much so that Claire has begun to feel uneasy as to my future”. And all three of them laughed heartily.