The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1914-09-19

stocked pack the sergeant concluded
that the pedlar had been attacked ma
liciously and his eye for business
visualised proceedings in the courts,
successful prosecution and promotion.
At the end of all such visions the SER
geant saw the form and features OF
Kitty O'Connor He little thought
that the same Kitty, by rejecting his
present, was the cause of the present
trouble and of others that were to
follow.
After a brief conversation with the
sergeant the pedlars fears OF the
curse began to vanish, for palpable
reasons are always more plausible
than imaginary ones. He told the
sergeant of his suspicious, and he
even mentioned the name of Bat. The
name of his rival excited the sergeant,
his eagerness for legal proceedings
warmed his temper, and made him
an Industrious but not reliable pur-
suer of clues. He learned that the
proffered blouse had been rejected,
and that Bat was in the shop. He
Immediately concluded that the rejec-
ton took place in Bats presence, and
that had he not been there the blouse
would have been accepted. He was
inclined to blame the pedlar for the
muddle, but as his evidence would
be required for the prosecution OF Bat,
he took the muddler mildly. The SER
geant knew how easily a girl might
be put off a union with man in the
force" and he was driven on by two
motives in gathering materials for a
case against Bat He wanted promo
ton, and he wanted Kitty O'COnnor.
The temporary removal of Bat was
necessary for the latter. A successful
prosecution of him for incendiarism
would secure the former.
It was a case of circumstantial evil
dence, but the circumstances were
suspicious enough to justify the ar
rest and detention of Bat. The ped
lar, his fears of divine retribution hav-
ing lost their terrors, promised to be-
come witness for the prosecution. He
was taken before a magistrate, and
LIl0 uCCSOodIy lOI-
Notwithstanding been gone through,
Bat was arrested and sent to the
county Jail to await the proceedings at
the Petty Sessions Court.
The sergeant's first step was an
easy one, for it used to be as easy to
lodge an Irishman in Jail as to prefer
charge against him. The second
step to be taken by the sergeant was
to secure that the pedlar should be
placed out of reach of the friends of
the defendant. Accordingly he got
him lodged next door to the barrack,
in the house of an army pensioner.
In the sergeant's eyes things looked
promising. He was much too busy
during the days between the arrest
and the trial to visit Kitty O'Connor
or he could have learned from her
demeanor that he was no longer with,
out dangerous rival. He feared that
the mere arrest of Bat would newt
ably prejudice public opinion against
him and that Kitty would no longer
think of him. Kitty had not yet given
Bat an answer to his proposal, but it
was not to be long delayed.
Her sister arrived home on holi-
days the day after Bats arrest. She
fell, as it were, into the middle of the
excitement caused by the event. No
body, save Kitty, knew the ms and
outs of the case. Nobody-save Kitty
could understand why Bat would
bother his head to burn Tommy from
Galway's pack. Kitty took care not
to tell the whole story to the dozens
of curious inquirers who came to the
shop for a pennyworth of blue and for
information. None of them sue
ceeded in getting Kitty to clear up
the mystery. In fact, it continued to
deepen. The greater the number of
unessential details extracted from
Kitty the greater and more muddled
became the chains of evidence made
by each of the inquirers Every de-
tail in the story became a starting,
point for a new line of argument that
led to a new and naturally erroneous
conclusion.
They were days of trial for Kitty.
She blushed every time she thought
of the blouse. She could easily hide
the fact of it's arrival and of it's fate
until the court day, but then the
whole ugly story would come to light.
What would the cronies say? What
would Bat say? She had hitherto toll
Grated the sergeant, and had even
thought it nice of him to have sent
her PRESENT. was something Bat
had not done-but his way of sending
it to her was not respectful, and now
it was about to get her into the |
mouths of all the gossipers of the |
three parishes.
Marias arrival was a relief. She |
respected Maria's opinion even more
than she did that of her mother, for
she would confide in her sister in a |
way that was impossible with her
mother
Maria was not at home three hours
when she had got to the bottom of |
Kitty's secret and of the prosecution |
against Bat. The first result of the
sisters confidence was the decision of |
Kitty to accept Bat and visit him in
prison to reply to his proposal. The |
second result was the undertaking by |
Maria of Bats defence. 1t was not
that she intended to play the part of |
Portia. Her plan was to countermine
the sergeant's arrangements by get |
Ting his chief witness away Che fnlt /