The opinion she had expressed to the pastor had been utterly pragmatic. "What would you have had her do? An abandoned fiancée, working as a servant in Meiningen, considered fair game by half the men in the town, probably. Jarvis offered her a safe place. He was prepared to bring her here and marry her where it's legal. He's willing to work a job and support her and the baby as best he can. He is prepared to fight to protect her. He has shown that. He's willing to do things for her harder than that, such as going to talk to you. She figures she's well off. She is well off. Even with his father and brother making trouble for them, she's a lot better off than if she had stayed south of the Thueringerwald. Even if some day the law declares her a concubine rather than a wife, she is still better off."
He had told her that he would contact the chief of police and request riot protection for the occasion of the baptism.
She had looked at him then.
"Mitch and his friends have all been in the army, too. If there's more trouble, they can handle it."
He had repeated that he would call upon the police force.
"If the police handle it, that's well and good. If they don't . . ."
Pastor Kastenmayer had no doubt whatsoever that many of the witnesses to this baptism had come armed.
He had no doubt because Derek Blount had told Ursel Krausin who had told him.
Ursel said that the people at the 250 Club also had no doubt that many of the witnesses to this baptism had come armed. She said that, "the guys define this as a 'deterrent.' "
Thus far, the deterrent seemed to have worked. There were a few men gathered outside the laundry, shouting and making catcalls, but no sign of an attack. Possibly because several policemen were there also, watching them. The chief of police had proved to be most cooperative.
Otherwise, a contingent of Beasleys. The grandfather. Two cousins of the child's father. Everett and, um, Buster. Both with their wives. Everett's wife looked somewhat apprehensive. Buster's wife was very small for an up-timer, but did not look apprehensive at all. Denise, the daughter of this Buster. He had seen her before, at the Christmas Eve play. Accompanied by Gerry Stone, the young candidate for the ministry? She had been with him on Christmas Eve, also. What could the connection between them be? He would have to ask Jonas.
Another girl, the foundling child, Wilhelmina Hugelmair. Minnie, as they called her. Her adoptive father, Benny Pierce. The adoptive father's niece, who cared for the old man.
He would have to remember—he had a request on his desk to write to Dieskau and obtain all the information available concerning the circumstances under which she had been found abandoned. She told him that the "birthday" she had given the school, the only one she had, was neither her date of birth nor her date of baptism. It was the date on which she had been found.
She could not provide even the date of her baptism. The pastor at Dieskau, realizing that she was already several months old, had not been willing to risk the possibility of rebaptism, even conditional, since she would almost certainly have been baptized somewhere else, shortly after birth. Anabaptism was a grave sin, Pastor Kastenmayer acknowledged.
There would certainly be an entry about it all in the church books there, and there should be one in the city council records as well when she was bound out the first time.
Gerry Stone's brother Ron, with a young woman whom the pastor did not recognize. Otherwise, Jonas Justinus Muselius, Jonas' fiancée Ronella Koch, his own wife Salome and his daughter Maria Blandina.
He would not be surprised if the Beasley contingent was also armed. He had not been informed in regard to this, but he would not be surprised.
He began the liturgy. The father wished to name the child Viana, in honor of his mother. Lutheranism had no requirement for biblical names or saints' names, although they were customary. The infant would be Viana.
After the baptism, the party went to a tavern called the City Hall Café for food. Some of the police followed them. Two remained behind, out of sight. To "keep an eye out," the chief had said, in case anyone attempted to vandalize the laundry. This resulted in three arrests.
According to Jonas, the connection between Gerry Stone and Denise Beasley was "friend."
"Friend?" Pastor Kastenmayer cocked his head, thinking that many young men were diverted away from their academic aspirations by inappropriate . . . friendships.
Jonas nodded. "Gerry says that the last thing in the world that Denise needs is one more guy hitting on her. That she gets too much of that already."
Jonas paused. "Ronella confirms this. She has heard it from the other teachers, now that she is at the middle school. Denise has very few friends. Only Minnie Hugelmair, really, and she has been in Grantville for less than two years. Gerry and Denise have known one another since they were small children."