The horses are tired after our climb through the mountains and we will sleep here yet another night after this one. We ourselves are now well refreshed by the services of their church here, in which two icons of the most pure Virgin have performed miracles as recently as eighty years ago. One of them still shows the miraculous tears she wept for a sinner, which are now turned to rare pearls. We have offered earnest prayers to her for protection in our mission, that we may safely reach the great city and even in the capital of the enemy find a haven from which to attempt our task.

I am yours most humbly in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,

Br. Kiril

April, the Year of Our Lord 6985

“I think Helen and I hardly breathed as Stoichev read this aloud. He translated slowly and methodically, and with no small skill. I was just about to exclaim aloud over the indubitable connection between the two letters when a thud of feet on the wooden stairs below made us all look up. ‘They are coming back,’ Stoichev said quietly. He put the letter away, and I placed ours with it for the time being, in his safekeeping. ‘Mr. Ranov-he was assigned to you as your guide?’

“‘Yes,’ I said quickly. ‘And he seems far too interested in our work here. There is a lot more we must tell you about our research, but it’s rather private and also -’ I paused.

“‘Dangerous?’ inquired Stoichev, turning his wonderful old face toward us.

“‘How did you guess?’ I couldn’t hide my amazement. Nothing we had said so far implied danger.

“‘Ah.’ He shook his head, and I heard in his sigh a depth of experience and regret I couldn’t begin to fathom. ‘There are some things I should tell you, also. I never expected to see another of these letters. Talk to Mr. Ranov as little as possible.’

“‘Don’t worry.’ Helen shook her head and they regarded each other for a second with a smile.

“‘Quiet,’ Stoichev said softly. ‘I will take care that we can talk again.’

“Irina and Ranov came into the sitting room with a clash of plates, and Irina began setting out glasses and a bottle of amber liquid. Ranov came behind her bearing a loaf of bread and a dish of white beans. He was smiling and he looked almost domesticated. I wished I could thank Stoichev’s niece. She settled her uncle comfortably in his chair and made us sit down, and I realized that the morning’s excursion had left me terribly hungry.

“‘Please, honored guests, make yourselves welcome.’ Stoichev waved a hand over the table as if it belonged to the emperor of Constantinople. Irina poured glasses of brandy-the smell alone could have killed a small animal-and he toasted us gallantly, his yellow-toothed smile wide and genuine. ‘I drink to friendship among scholars everywhere.’

“We all returned this toast with enthusiasm except for Ranov, who raised his glass ironically and looked around at us.

“‘May your scholarship advance the knowledge of the Party and the people,’ he said, giving me a little bow. This almost took the edge off my appetite; was he speaking generally, or did he want to advance the Party’s knowledge through something particular we knew? But I returned the bow and downed myrakiya. I decided there was no way to drink it except quickly, and the third-degree burn I received on the back of my throat was soon replaced by a pleasant glow. Enough of this beverage, I thought, and I might be in danger of liking Ranov slightly.

“‘I am glad to have the chance to talk with anyone who is interested in our medieval history,’ Stoichev said to me. ‘Perhaps it would be interesting for you and Miss Rossi to see a holiday that celebrates two of our great medieval figures. Tomorrow is the day of Kiril and Methodii, creators of the great Slavonic alphabet. In English you would say Cyril and Methodius-you call it Cyrillic, do you not? We saykirilitsa, for Kiril, the monk who invented it.’

“For a moment I was confused, thinking of our Brother Kiril, but when Stoichev spoke again I saw what he had in mind, and how resourceful he was.

“‘I am very busy with my writing this afternoon,’ he said, ‘but if you would like to come back tomorrow, some of my former students will be here to celebrate the day, and I can tell you more about Kiril then.’

“‘That is extremely kind of you,’ Helen said. ‘We do not want to use too much of your time, but we would be honored to join you. Can that be arranged, Comrade Ranov?’

“Thecomrade did not seem to be lost on Ranov, who scowled at her over his second glass of brandy. ‘Certainly,’ he said. ‘If that is how you would like to accomplish your research, I am happy to be of assistance.’

“‘Very good,’ Stoichev said. ‘We will gather here at about one-thirty, and Irina will have something nice for our lunch. It is always a pleasant group. You may meet some scholars whose work you will find interesting.’

“We thanked him profusely and obeyed Irina’s urging to eat, although I noticed that Helen, too, avoided the rest of therakiya. When we had finished the simple meal, Helen rose at once and we all followed suit. ‘We will not tire you further, Professor,’ she said, taking his hand.

“‘Not at all, my dear.’ Stoichev shook her hands warmly, but I thought he did look weary. ‘I shall look forward to our meeting tomorrow.’

“Irina showed us to the gate again, through the green yard and gardens. ‘Until tomorrow,’ she said, smiling at us, and added something pert in Bulgarian that made Ranov smooth his hair down before putting his hat on again. ‘She is a very pretty girl,’ he remarked complacently as we walked to his car, and Helen rolled her eyes at me behind his back.

“It wasn’t until evening that we had a few minutes alone together. Ranov had taken his departure after an interminable dinner in the bleak hotel dining room. Helen and I walked upstairs together-the elevator was broken again-and then lingered in the hall near my room, moments of sweetness filched from our peculiar situation. Once we thought that Ranov must be gone, we went back downstairs, strolled out to a café on a side street nearby, and sat there under the trees.

“‘Someone is watching us here, also,’ Helen said quietly, as we seated ourselves at a metal table. I laid my briefcase carefully across my lap; I’d stopped even setting it under café tables. Helen smiled. ‘But at least this is not bugged, like my room. And yours.’ She looked up into the green branches above us. ‘Linden trees,’ she said. ‘In a couple of months they will be covered with flowers. People make tea out of them at home-probably here, too.’ When you sit at a table outside like this, you must clean off the table first because the blossoms and the pollen fall everywhere. They smell like honey, very sweet and fresh.‘ She made a quick motion, as if brushing aside thousands of pale green flowers.

“I took her hand then, and turned it over so that I could see her palm with its graceful lines. I hoped they meant she would have a long life and good fortune, both shared by me. ‘What do you make of Stoichev’s having that letter?’

“‘It might be a stroke of luck for us,’ she mused. ‘At first I thought it was only a piece of a historical puzzle-a wonderful piece, but how was it going to help us? But when Stoichev guessed our letter was dangerous, then I felt a great deal of hope that he knows something important.’

“‘I hoped so, too,’ I admitted. ‘But I also thought he might mean simply that it was politically sensitive material, like so much of his work-because it involves the history of the church.’

“‘I know.’ Helen sighed. ‘It might mean only that.’

“‘And that would be enough to make him wary of discussing it in front of Ranov.’

“‘Yes. We will have to wait until tomorrow to find out what he meant.’ She laced her fingers through mine. ‘It is agonizing for you to wait every day, isn’t it?’

“I nodded slowly. ‘If you knew Rossi,’ I said, and stopped.