Sister Marie Series - by Dan Murr, Segment 17

A young man with a fez, Mr. Binson, joins Fathers Poulin and Jung on the train to Ephesus and he provides the answer to a major question, who owns the property they want to purchase on Nightingale Mountain.
It was not an easy task to purchase land in Turkey, especially at that time. Plus, they had no idea who owned the property on Nightingale Mountain. And a Catholic in a Turkish country? A nun, as they say, buying from a Muslim? Most agreed that she’d need divine intervention for help, or at least assistance from the Blessed Virgin Mary, to do that. But with Sister Marie, it seemed like supernatural intervention, indeed, came upon her request.

Fathers Poulin and Jung and a Mr. Binson left for Ephesus by train on Wednesday, 27 January 1892. Another young man with a fez joined them in the fourth seat of their compartment. He had a kindly face, a Greek perhaps.
“Uh oh, bad luck,” Father Poulin thought. “We can’t speak about our business . . . a wasted journey.”
Immediately Mr. Binson, who could speak the man’s language, offered him a cigarette.
“How far are you going,” Mr. Binson asked to open a conversation.
“Scala Nova,” the man with the fez answered.
That was exactly where Fathers Poulin and Jung and Mr. Binson were headed. But they didn’t volunteer their destination and kept that information strictly to themselves. They were going there to search for records of ownership of Nightingale Mountain where their precious site was located. But they didn’t dare tell the man with the fez.
Without a prompt, the man with the fez launched into the latest news out of Scala Nova, that there was a scandal about a prominent family and it was the talk of the town. An aging Turk, the Bey of Avaria, had been quite wealthy and owned half of Ephesus. The other half, he said, belonged to the Bey’s nephew who had squandered it. He had borrowed heavily from his uncle and everyone else.
Fortunately, the man with the fez said, he still owned some land. For that reason, The Bey brought a suit against his nephew.
As the conversation continued, Mr. Binson learned that the land the man with the fez talked about was located on Nightingale Mountain, that it actually included the property on which Panaghia Kapuli was located. Both the Bey and the nephew were now in need of money and no one had any idea about how the suit would be settled.
The train pulled into Scala Nova and Fathers Poulin and Jung and Mr. Binson disembarked. They went directly to The Bey. God had given them the answer they needed – who owned the site at Nightingale Mountain.
The Bey graciously welcomed the two professors and Mr. Binson and they talked at great length. Then The Bey insisted that they stay for dinner.
“Providence knew I’d have guests for lunch today,” he said “and inspired my friend to bring me this fish.”
After the meal, they again turned their conversation to business, but The Bey told them he couldn’t possibly sell the property now, that they’d have to come back in two weeks. They settled on returning on Wednesday, 11 February, the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes. But on that day The Bey said he was still unable to sell, so he invited them back the following week.
Since the two priests had to return to classes, Mr. Binson returned alone. After he met with The Bey, Binson said that The Bey wants to sell, but because of the mortgage held against the nephew, it could not be sold just yet. So they had to wait a while longer.

Segment 18: Sister Marie prepares for the purchase of Panaghia but still doubt looms about authenticity of the site.