Page 96 - March On! God will Provide by Brother Aubert

Chapter 12

RYKEN KEEPS TRYING

u Ocronm 22, 1845, the day after the close of the
annual retreat and the glving of the habit to six
new Brothers, the clerk from Dujardin's Bank arrived
to begin the inventory. He did not make much progress.
Brother Ryken talked to him, and the clerk decided that
he had better postpone the inventory and consult Du-
jardin.
As soon as the clerk had left, Brother Ryken wrote to
Father Bogaerds in an efiort to get some action from
Dean Spaas in Hasselt: "The affair with the banker
is pending. If I do not mistake, he wishes that every-
thing be handled amicably. I asked him for a decision
in writing. He did not write but sent one of his clerks.
After a long interview, the clerk decided to come back
later to find out if I had any good news for him. The
situation is serious. The Dean ought to take advantage
of it."
Time dragged on. No word came from Dean Spaas,
and Hasselt began fading as a place of refuge for the
about to be dispossessed Xaverian Brothers.
Soon winter set in with killing frosts that equalled
for intensity and duration those of the preceding winter
when all the plantings had died in the fields.
Day and night, the Xaverian watchers in pairs knelt
before the Blessed Sacrament. Their number was dwin-
dling. From twenty-seven they were by October down
to nineteen with only one replacement, the twenty-one-
year-old John Baptist Van der Wee.
The year closed with the Xaverians still in physical