During the same two days, Prior Sembera held mass and practiced with his choir in perfect ignorance of the tensions running through his flock. Brother Matthew was suspiciously absent several times, and was once seen talking to the Monastery carpenter. Brother Gregory attended his classes as normal, but his regular study guest, Brother Joseph, found him withdrawn and unable to work on the results of last year's genetic crosses. This uneasy calm came to an end towards the end of the week with the return of Abbot Napp and the delivery of an official looking letter demanding the presence of the Abbot and the monks Mendel and Klacel at the Bishop's Palace later that day.
The trip to the Palace was strained. Abbot Napp's thoughts were still on the Lord's Diet and the politics involved in keeping his agricultural policy on track. He was slightly irritated at Schrattenbach's summons and had to ask Klacel to remind him of the circumstances once again. Brother Gregory was sure his teaching career was over. Once the theft of the book was publicized his imagination had led him down a thousand possible outcomes, and all of them left him looking foolish and without a teaching post. He was the most miserable of the group.
Surprisingly, Klacel seemed the least concerned. He had left the monastery the night before, just after Compline, and had not returned until after the porter hung out his night lamp. But this morning he looked rested and well pleased with himself.
All three sat on the oak bench outside Monsignor Schrattenbach's office for just enough time to let them know how busy and important the Bishop's secretary was, and how unimportant they were. Then they were ushered in and offered seats opposite Schrattenbach's desk.
The prelate came straight to the point, "Abbot Napp, we have a serious issue here that involves one of your teachers and a piece of valuable property that was used inappropriately. If it had not been for the timely intervention of Brother Timothy, a book, which has been an important part of the Schrattenbach collection for over a hundred years, would have been stolen. Not -" and his voice rose here, "- from its place in the Monastery library, where it temporarily belonged, but from the Realschule where it did not belong!"
Napp frowned. The case was becoming clear. Schrattenbach, with whom Napp had had dealings in the past, was going to use this incident to further his master's policy of embarrassing the Monastery at any cost. He answered, "My teachers are the best in Brno and their methods get the best results in Brno. If one of my teachers used your book in a school class it was for the best of motives and probably achieved its objectives. We believe in quality education at the Realschule, and we had hoped that the Bishop supported our efforts."
"This is not about education," Schrattenbach said sharply, "it is about irresponsibility, carelessness and downright disregard for the correct treatment of valuable property."
"I beg your pardon," said Napp smoothly, "but I thought we were discussing teaching methods and the superior results my teachers get in the classroom. I would like to think that our distinguished Bishop supported our efforts to improve our children's education. As you know, this is a matter that is very close to the Emperor's heart. He has often said how much he approves of our methods."