As Jiri Tomin and his brother went by, Mendel stopped them by placing his hand on their thin shoulders. "I have something to tell you," he said sadly, "please wait in the classroom for one moment."
Mystified, the boys returned to their places, while Mendel saw the rest of his charges away out of the main door. Returning, he noticed that he was still holding the cloth wrapped book containing Mozart's music. Absently, he placed the book on the hall table and went back into his classroom, closing the door behind him. This was going to be a painful few moments.
Almost at the same instant the doorway to Dr. Auspitz's office opened and the three men moved slowly into the corridor, buttoning up their coats and adjusting their tall hats.
"I'll bid you good day Doktor," Druer said to the Headmaster, "Brother," was all he said to Brother Timothy with a slight nod of the head. The last hour had not been a pleasant one for either man, and the wine merchant was anxious to get back to his business.
The three men moved towards the outer door, the Headmaster already thinking of his pikantni zavitek, a local beef olive dish that his wife had waiting for him. Although an ethnic German, Dr. Auspitz enjoyed the local Czech cuisine.
Not needing physical sustenance, Brother Timothy hung back, pondering his problems. Last night it had all worked out exactly as planned. When Abbot Nap asked him to go to the monthly meeting of the Aufsichtsrat, he had jumped at the chance. Not only would he have a chance to meet and socialize with some of the more important Trustees of the school, all of whom were prominent local citizens who could one day help Brother Timothy's career, but also, he would have a chance to influence them. Like all good plans, his had been simplicity itself. He had noticed that the school budget was in its usual state of deficit and that one item in particular - the Freikinder program - was particularly vulnerable. It had not taken much of oratorical talent to link the two ideas in the minds of the Board members.
After than it had been easy to get what he wanted. First he proposed that the funding for the program be placed on the agenda, then, when it came time for him to speak to the issue he had been both sympathetic to the educational mission of the program and the amount of money it was costing. Keeping on the side of the angels, he had proposed that the savings be taken, not by eliminating the program, or by reducing the number of boys, but by cutting the number of hours of education for which the Board would pay. Then he used the key words that got them all off the hook - 'it would be a temporary measure'. Each man in that room that night seized upon the excuse Brother Timothy had given them; of course the cuts would only be temporary, to be replaced when the economy recovered.
The measure passed almost without further debate, and Brother Timothy had returned home to the monastery that night hugging himself for the damage he had just inflicted on 'Mendel's sparrows'.
During the last hour, however, things had gone wrong. He blamed himself. Wanting to see the expression on Mendel's face when he was told, he had insisted that Brother Gregory be informed right away about what was going to happen to the Freikinder program. That had been the mistake. Confronted so dramatically, Mendel had reacted with such force that Auspitz and Druer were now doubting the wisdom of this action. Not that Brother Timothy was worried about any threat that Mendel had made to inform Baron Truchess-Zeil, he knew only too well how busy the Baron was these days. Mendel's letter, if it was written at all, would simply end up on some secretary's desk and be forgotten.