First to sample the kolac, the traditional sweet bread pastry, was Monsignor Schrattenbach, who, secretly, liked pastries of this kind. His mouth was rather full, therefore, when Abbot Napp arrived in the refectory. Through the crumbs, the Vicar General explained to Napp that the Bishop was too busy to attend the tribunal that afternoon and had sent his deputy along instead. Both men knew that the Bishop, far from being a fool, was keeping a careful distance between himself and what could turn out to be a difficult situation.

Since the suspension of the constitution by Belcredi, no one was sure where the special relationship between the Catholic Church and the Austrian State now stood. The 'October Diploma' of 1860 had weakened the central government and given wide authority to the regions and local diets. The Church had benefited from this dilution of authority and seized strong control over such areas as education and language.

The 'February Patent' of 1861, issued some four months later, had further confused the issue of who, and what, was ruling Austria and its empire, and once again the Church had strengthened its position. Normally the Staatpolizei would have been very reluctant to take a monk from a monastery, especially one run by an Abbot as well connected politically as Napp, for anything less than cold blooded murder. But the suspension of the constitution the previous year had stirred up the waters and ambitious bureaucrats such as Darmstaedter were now testing how far they could go.

All in all, the idea of a joint tribunal of church, state and army to carry out an investigation of Brother Matthew was test of this new, emerging, relationship between the three organs of the empire. Bishop Schaffgotsche wanted as little to do as possible with any precedent setting trial. Hence the presence of his henchman.

It was not long before Obserstleutnant Reishach and Untercommandant Darmstaedter joined them, and each in his turn was seduced by some dish prepared by Brother Victor. Lunch, therefore, took slightly longer than planned, which added to the tension of the other participants who had not been invited to the feast. Eventually Prior Sembera tugged at his Abbot's sleeve, and the judges of the tribunal reluctantly put down their plates and followed the Prior into the monastery library.

Their feet clattered on the tiles of the refectory, thumped on the stone floors corridors, but turned soft as they entered the formal library, past the cubby holes stuffed with woolen slippers that all the monks were supposed to use to protect the magnificent parquet floor. None of these distinguished guests were asked to take off their shoes and put on the slippers, but Mendel did so automatically as he followed everyone else into the room.

This was one of the most elegant and sumptuous rooms in the monastery. Along one whole wall there were five, tall, arched windows that gave excellent views of the garden, the glasshouse, the orchard and even of the brewery. Between the windows were bookshelves that started just above the lower paneling and ran up the length of the wall almost to the ceiling, which was heavily decorated with painted plaster work.

Most of the books, however, were located on the three other walls of the library where dark hardwood shelves were backed with vivid blue paint - where it could be seen at all. Strangely, a grand piano stood in one corner, and today a long table had been set out with stiff chairs for all the principals, but there was nowhere, under normal conditions, for users of the library to sit and read.

This mystery was solved moments later when Brother Joseph magically appeared from behind what looked to be a solid bookcase on the southeast wall. A half empty piece of the bookcase suddenly swung open and the monk appeared from a small doorway hidden behind. Down five steps the guests could see four study rooms in which the monks normally sat, read, and used cheaper copies of the library's books. These were stacked on simple pine shelves. Windows in this secret place of study looked out over Mendel's pea garden and most of the rest of the monastery.

"We are about to begin," Abbot Napp said with some asperity and waved Brother Joseph back behind the bookcase, which he left slightly open so he could hear what was going on. His distinguished guests took their places on one side of the long table, and the other participants, including the Prior, Mendel, Brother Timothy and the prime suspect, took less comfortable seats on the other side of the table. The tribunal was about to begin.