"Ah, Mendel," cried the pharmacist as the door opened to the assistant's knock and the guest was shown into the oak lined room at the back of the dispensary. "I was expecting you earlier. A difficult day in the classroom, perhaps?"

"Oh, no," answered Brother Gregory, "the students were very excited today, with all the soldiers around, and the possibility that their brothers or fathers may be conscripted into the army, but they were no worse than usual. The day went well. I am late because I had to stop to have my microscope repaired."

"Nothing too serious, I hope."

"Well, I did drop it on the floor and the barrel is broken. But I think the lenses are still undamaged - any way, I'll find out in a few days." He took the offer of a chair, sat down and shook his head with Theimer offered him a glass of wine. "I should not," he said reluctantly, for Mendel like good food and drink, as his expanding waistline proved. "I need a clear head to check those galley proofs."

"Ah, yes, your paper on plant hybrids. I've been re-reading it myself with considerable interest. I think you may have discovered something of importance with this work," Theimer said. His own interest in plant hybridization and floristics was well known within the Society.

"I hope you are right," Mendel said with feeling. His two talks to the Society in the previous year had not been a success. His first presentation had been attacked and his second presentation had been ignored. Later, Dr. Auspitz, the headmaster of the Realshule and member of the editorial board of the local paper, Tagesbote, had asked him to write up an account of his presentations, which had then been published in the paper.

His sense of modesty had prevented Brother Gregory from over praising the work, or even attaching his name to the article, but he had written "The numerical data with regard to the occurrence of the differentiating characters in the hybrids and their relation to the stem species were worthy of consideration." Which was about as strong a public statement on his work as he would ever make.

When it came to the reaction of his audience, Brother Gregory had written in the paper, "That the theme of the lecture was well chosen and the exposition of it entirely satisfactory was shown by the lively participation of the audience." He did not mention his own discomfiture and pain when his interpretation of the data had been attacked.

"I need one other piece of information from you," Theimer said, taking the galley proofs from a drawer and handing them to Mendel. "How many reprints will you be wanting? I need to tell the printers."

Brother Gregory thought for a moment. Very few scientists around the world would ever read an original copy of the Proceedings of the Brunn Society for the Study of Natural Sciences, so, if he wished to publicize his work among those scientists he respected, he would have to send them each a separate copy of the paper; known as a 'reprint'.

But how many? A modest mailing list of interested scientists would have about 10 names on it in 1866, and a wider list that included lesser names, would be about 20 names long, but this would be stretching. "I'd like 40 reprints please," said Mendel after a while. This number told Theimer more about Brother Gregory's feelings about his research than any talk or presentation. Mendel thought it was important!

"Ah, yes, very well - I'll tell the printers to run off another 40 copies. You can have them after the publication date. But now, you have some reading to do." Theimer handed Brother Gregory a long roll of paper about a third of a klafter wide, which was about 16 or 17 of the new metric centimeters that people were now using. Along one side of this roll, in heavy German type was the body text of Mendel's paper.

Although neither of the men in that room knew it, they were holding an historic document. The style of writing in Mendel's time was florid and descriptive, no one used the simpler, clear and deductive approach that Brother Gregory had chosen. His ideas were clearly expressed, and the data presented and discussed in a focused way that used mathematics to support theory - a unique concept.

"Take your time," Theimer advised, "it is very hard to read one's own writing. I've found that authors make very poor copy editors, they don't see the actual words on the page, they see the words that should be on the page." He laughed. The well known inability of authors to see mistakes in their own writing was a source of constant problems to publishers.

"When do you need it back?" Brother Gregory asked.

"Well," said Theimer delicately, "you were rather late in submitting this paper. What took you so long?"

At that Brother Gregory blushed and looked confused. "It is a long story," he stuttered, "which I'd rather keep for another time." Seeing his embarrassment, the vice-president did not press the issue, but his curiosity had been peeked. For some months he had been hearing stories, and he had hoped that Mendel would have denied or confirmed them - but not tonight.

He might have been tempted to try and find more about Brother Gregory's secret if it had not been for a noise erupting outside the window. Looking out, Theimer saw a platoon of soldiers running down Rasinova Street in the direction of the namesti Svobody where it looked like a fire was burning in the street.

"What is going on?" Brother Gregory asked.

"More military activity," Theimer replied with a shrug. Like many Brno citizens Theimer was finding the constant presence of soldiers in their small town a growing irritant. They were loud, rude and very inconsiderate in everything they did. Women were beginning to complain that they no longer felt safe on their own streets.