The Old Man had really dozed off this time. At first she had suspected that he was merely placing temptation in her path to see what mischeif she might get up to, and that indeed was still a possibility, but then he was old. Last night he had been up, busily, almost desperately, scribbling on another scroll till almost dawn. That scroll was still spread out beneath him on the desk and he was now out cold face down upon it. It was 6 a.m. when she had quietly got up from her bedroll on the floor in the anteroom.

She had watched with patience for a half hour now and was satisfied that he really was insensible. The satchell with his pipe and tobacco and some other bits of parchment was leaning on the leg of his chair and to this she now gave her undivided attention.

And there it was, what looked like detailed notes on something called "Otherways". She felt the thrill of fear and anticipation as she pulled out her cam and scanned the scroll from top to bottom. No time to read now, she would do that later. The opportunity had been preprogrammed as she was scheduled to attend a lecture on the great Jan Hus and his contemporary Wycliffe at the famous Charles University. In spite of her present preoccupation, she was looking forward to it, for Lollardism was the real forerunner of todays postmodernism.

The Old Man groaned and turned slightly. She shook him gently awake and helped him to stagger to the fourposter that dominated one corner of the main room. These rooms were ancient and this was purportedly the very same suite where St. Agnes had stayed during the construction of her hospital.

She called down for coffee and went back to being the assiduous student. The Old Man had given her some of his own papers on the Lollards and she was soon absorbed.

Her cell buzzed once. An SMS. She decoded it. "Come backstage of the 3rd Hall by 3:30". It was unsigned. She sipped her coffee. Something unforeseen and also urgent. The Cardinal simply would never have risked this otherwise. Speculation was useless, she would wait and see.

Live to serve : Serve to live