DAWN
17
basket, he wondered at himself for looking in the other places first.
The envelope had to be filed somewhere-a separate folder would
be best-but Father Udovic didn't file it. He carried it to
his
desk.
There, sitting down to it in the gloom of the outer office, weighing,
feeling, smelling the envelope, he succumbed entirely to his first fears.
He remembered the parable of the cockle.
"An
enemy hath done this."
An
enemy was plotting to disturb the peace of the diocese, to employ
the Archbishop as an agent against himself, or against some other
innocent person, some unsuspecting priest or nun . . . yes, against
Father Udovic. Why him? Why not? Only a diseased mind would
contemplate such a scheme, Father Udovic thought, but that didn't
make it less likely. And the sender, whoever he was, doubtless anony–
mous and judging others by himself, would assume that the envelope
had already been opened and that the announcement was calculated
to catch him. Such a person would never come forward.
Father Udovic's fingers tightened on the envelope. He could
rip it open, but he wouldn't. That evening, enjoying instant coffee
in his room, he could steam it open. But he wouldn't. In the begin–
ning, the envelope might have been opened. It would have been so
easy, pardonable then. Monsignor Renton's housekeeper might have
done it. With the Archbishop honoring the name on the envelope
and the intentions of whoever wrote it, up to a point anyway, there
was now a principle operating that just couldn't be bucked. Mon–
signor Renton could have it his way.
That evening Father Udovic called him and asked that the
announcement appear in the bulletin.
"Okay. I'll stick it in. It wouldn't surprise me if we got some
action now."
"I hope so," said Father Udovic, utterly convinced that Mon–
signor Renton had failed him before. "Do you mind taking it down
verbatim this time?"
"Not at all."
In the next bulletin, an advance copy of which came to Father
Udovic through the courtesy of Monsignor Renton, the announce–
ment appeared in an expanded, unauthorized version.
The result on Sunday was no different.
During the following week, Father Udovic considered the possi-
