Grace looked at it for some time, before Alex continued.

“He designed it. It combines the astrological symbols—and the signs we use for male and female—to form a cross, similar to the Egyptian ankh. He thought he’d gone too far in publishing it—because of its great power. Intriguingly, it places the symbol for the moon at the pinnacle, with the sun directly below.”

At this, Grace clapped her hands together mischievously and laughed aloud. “Just as it should be! His boss was quite a lady, and all men were below her!”

Alex laughed with her. “Yes, I agree, and I think that’s important. Dee was designing something for all religious persuasions. And the recurring theme about a rose may connect with the rose windows in Chartres.

“And as Giordano Bruno spent a long time in Paris with the King, Henri IV, who promised the best hope at the time for religious tolerance, perhaps he visited Chartres and knew about this pure solstice light beam. It would have attracted him. It’s all a labyrinth of speculation.”

“So let’s check Bruno, the sun, and the rose before our Ariadne returns from New York. But in the meantime, a final clue for you. I consulted my father about the Hebrew letters that appear on each page of the oldest documents.”

“I noticed them, Grace, but they defeat me. Does he recognize anything in them?”

“I only faxed them to him today, though Lucy copied them for me weeks ago—but I wasn’t into it then. He hasn’t had much time, but just to give you something to ponder, he thinks every word has a cabalistic significance—like a magic word.”

“Like ‘abracadabra’?” Alex’s humor didn’t quite conceal his genuine interest.

Grace was relaxed and enjoying the wine and Alex’s company. She laughed loudly. “That’s Arabic, silly. But he’ll translate them and give us the meanings. He said something about ‘Gematria.’”

“That’s clever, Grace. He’s surely right. ‘Gematria’ gives all the letters a numerical parallel: and I can imagine what some of the words will add up to. But, what will it all mean?”

28

IT WAS CLOSE TO HALF-PAST NOON AND THEIR APPOINTED LUNCH DATE AS Simon and Lucy sprinted across Thirty-fourth Street in midtown Manhattan though the phalanxes of yellow cabs. They escaped into the door of Roland Brown’s office building, glancing fleetingly at the boards to check which floor they wanted, then they swirled into the elevator and were accelerated upward. Lucy had been feeling tense and unusually emotional since she had checked into her room last night, the time difference dissuading her from calling Alex; but she offered Simon a warm smile now. In an hour or so it would all be over, their mission hopefully accomplished, and despite their furtive looks along hotel corridors and across streets everywhere, there’d been no sign of anyone, or anything, to trouble them.