DAWN
21
In Father Udovic's opinion, it was one of his functions to pro–
tect the Archbishop from directness of that sort. "How do we know
what's in here?" he demanded. Here, unfortunately, he reached up
the wrong sleeve of his cassock for the envelope. Then he had it.
"What's in here? Money? How much?" He knew from Monsignor
Renton that the envelope contained money, but he hadn't told the
Archbishop, and so it probably sounded rash to him. Father Udovic
could feel the Archbishop disapproving of him, and Mrs. Anton still
hadn't answered the question.
"Maybe you should return the envelope to Mrs. Anton, Father,"
said the Archbishop.
That did it for Mrs. Anton. "It's got a dollar in it," she said.
Father U dovic glanced at the Archbishop. The Archbishop was
adjusting his cuffs. This was something he did at funerals and public
gatherings. It meant that things had gone on too long. Father Udovic's
fingers were sticking to the envelope. He still couldn't believe it.
"Feels like there's more than that," he said.
"I wrapped it up good in paper."
"You didn't write a letter or anything?"
"Was I supposed to?"
Father Udovic came down on her. "You were supposed to do
what everybody else did. You were supposed to use the envelopes we
had printed up for the purpose." He went back a few steps in his
mind. "You told Monsignor Renton what was in the envelope?"
"Yes."
"Did you tell him how much?"
"No."
"Why not?"
((He
didn't ask me."
And
he
didn't have to, thought Father Udovic. One look at Mrs.
Anton and Monsignor Renton would know. Parish priests got to
know such things. They were like weight-guessers for whom it was
only a question of ounces. Monsignor Renton shouldn't have passed
Mrs. Anton on. He had opposed the plan to personalize Peter's Pence,
but who would have thought he'd go to such lengths to get even with
Father Udovic? It was sabotage. Father Udovic held out the envelope
and pointed to the
Personal
on it. "What do you mean by that?"
Here was where the creatures of his dreams had always gone away.
He leaned forward for the answer.
