It had taken the three shocked monks several minutes to recover from Karl Theimer's surprise, and the fact that one of the best chemists in Brno was a woman. When the pharmacist had stopped laughing and Mendel's mouth had closed, the five of them had retreated into a warm back room to talk about their mutual mission and the best way of accomplishing it.

"I won't pretend it was easy," Grete Dabrowska admitted, when asked by a still startled Klacel about her education. "In Bismarck's German Confederation it is compulsory for girls to go to school through the elementary grades, but it is forbidden for them to go to University. Here in the Empire, things are more fluid, but it was only because I was married to an industrial chemist with powerful friends in the University of Glessen that I was allowed to go to classes for two years. Even so, I never actually graduated with any kind of a degree".

"But she worked alongside Vladimir, her husband, for several years after that," Theimer added, and it was clear that he was very proud of his daughter and her accomplishments. "Unfortunately Vladimir became ill last winter, and died in the spring. Grete has been staying with me ever since, but there is no work for her here in Brno. Unless you can use her talents," he added, slyly.

"I ... er ... well ... I don't know," stuttered Brother Gregory. All his life women had made him uncomfortable. While at home his mother, Rosine, and sisters, Theresa and Veronica, had smothered him in affection, but at the Philosophy Institute in Olomouc he found himself without friends, of either sex, and by the time he went to University he had dedicated himself to a life of celibacy and stayed away from women or girls in any social context. He simply had no way of understanding or relating to the fairer sex.

It was no help that Frau Dabrowska was young, pretty and had the disconcerting habit of looking directly into his eyes. "I wish you would give me a chance to help you," she said in a low voice that never-the-less had no trouble being heard around the room. "Father has been very kind to me these last few months, but I enjoyed working with my husband very much and I miss the intellectual creativity I once shared with him. Also," she said suddenly, "I have an extensive collection of modern chemistry books and my husband used to subscribe to a number of journals. It is probably the best collection in Brno".

It had not taken Brother Matthew as long as his two friends to recover from the shock. "I for one would be glad of your assistance," he told her. "We are short of time and any insight you may have as to how proceed would be most welcome".

"Could you perhaps tell me the nature of the problem you are facing?" she asked, placing both her hands on the table in front of her. Mendel could not help noticing that she had delicate fingers only one of which was circled by a simple, plain wedding band like his mother's. He tore his eyes away from them, but the moment he looked back at her face, the eyes trapped him once more and all he could do was stutter.

Brother Joseph and Karl Theimer rescued him and began the explanation of the dye and its solubility problems all over again. This took longer than before as Frau Dabrowska asked many questions most of which the monks could not answer, and a few questions that only Brother Gregory could answer, but did not want to.

"But you have samples of the intermediate products?" she asked, and then had to explain what 'intermediate products' were.

"Oh yes," Mendel was able to tell her at last, "I brought several samples back with me from my visit to the dye-works. It appears that Herr Waldschmidt and his friends can make the dye up to the stage they call 'madder red', or something like that, but the properties of this material are inconsistent and it cannot easily be used to stain cloth".

"Then I think I can help you. Although my husband and I have never worked on exactly this type of problem before, it sounds very similar to an issue we had to face when he was commissioned by the Badische Anilin- and Soda-Fabrik to help start a coal-tar distillation process for Herr Engelhorn back in '65. Solubility of those products was always a problem, and Vladimir was successful in a number of instances. Apparently it all has to do with the strongly hydrophobic nature of molecules made with a lot of carbon atoms, apparently they ...". But it was clear that she had lost her audience, so she laughed and the clear sound of her amusement sent the blood rushing back to Mendel's face once more.

After an assistant had knocked politely on the door and requested the presence of Herr Theimer in his pharmacy once more, the group broke up. With some reluctance Mendel agreed to Frau Dabrowska coming to the monastery and bringing with her some of her books and a lot of her glassware. "We have a basement room set up for performing experiments," Brother Matthew told her and then grinned at the look on Mendel's face. "Don't worry, Brother Gregory here will make all the arrangements with the Prior".

Appoplexy was the reason Mendel could not speak for the next few minutes, during which his friends said their good-byes and hustled him out onto the streets. "I think we have been incredibly lucky," Klacel told him as they walked home. "To find such a qualified person in Brno, at this time of year, and someone who is prepared to help us in this way is the most amazing good fortune". He walked on whistling to himself contentedly leaving his friend to debate within himself the nature of their fortune and how good it was.

Naturally the Prior was alarmed at the thought of Frau Dabrowska working in the monastery basement, but the three scientist-monks found unexpected allies in Frau Smejkalova, who did the monks washing and cleaning, and in Brother Victor, the monastery cook and hospitalier. Both these powerful individuals supported the presence of a professional woman in their midst, how-be-it for very different reasons and motives.

Brother Timothy was absent, as he had been on several occasions lately, so the Prior had no one to turn to for extra advise or guidance, something he had found himself doing a lot of since Abbot Napp had passed away. Presented as he was by a united front in support of Frau Dabrowska, he had not said 'yes', and he had not said 'no', which the three friends interpreted as consent.

Within hours, and before the Prior could change his mind yet again, Brother Victor found himself sitting with the charming Dabrowska at his kitchen table feeding her warm liquids and steaming pastries. Outside the door several members of the monastery collected, apparently by accident, and found excuses to drop in on Brother Victor to inquire as to his health, the state of his supplies and even his opinions of the lead article in the Tagesbote.

Frau Dabrowska took all this attention as a compliment and had a few kind words and a series of flashing smiles for each guest, most of whom, when they left the room, were either convinced that she was the best thing that had happened to the monastery since the recent war, or that she had been sent by the devil to tempt them all into perdition.

While Frau Dabrowska was being assessed by the monastery, the three of them that already knew her were unloading a cart and carrying several crates of glassware into the basement room they used for their adventures in science. It was here, some years ago, that they had solved the problem of the bacteria growing in the wine. [see Chapter the Fourth - ed.]

When all was ready, Brother Matthew rescued their guest researcher from a third or fourth round of Brother Victor's pastries, and showed her where they were going to work. "This is ideal," she told them with one of her smiles, hiding the fact that she was horrified by the dust, dirt and piles of rubbish in the corners of the room. But Frau Smejkalova was much less polite, and with a firm slap of her large arms, she hustled the monks out of the room and set about making the laboratory presentable for a lady of quality.

While the physical environment in which she was to work was thus being prepared for her, Frau Dabrowska suggested that they start by studying the literature and becoming familiar with the chemistry of these new carbon based molecules. She would be glad to help them, she said, in any small way she could. Together they went to the secret library and startled two of its occupants by taking up a desk by the window overlooking the garden.

"As you can see," Grete said, opening the first of her books, "quite a bit is already known about carbon, but these new substances contain properties never before seen in simpler associations ..."

So began the first lesson.