“Diplomatic matters,” Gabriel replied with his customary evasion, settling into a more somber demeanor. And just likethat, he had withdrawn behind the curtain again, as though the kiss had never happened, and Henri was confronted by a stranger once more.
Her spirits sank. Even after everything they had shared, after her agreement to marry him, he was still determined to keep her at arm’s length. She found herself recalling Mr. Tyne’s advice about patience, about the need to coax Gabriel out of his deep privacy. Clearly, it would take more time than she had hoped.
“Would you join me in the study?” Gabriel asked, apparently oblivious to her disappointment. “I have something to show you regarding the sketch you were carrying.”
Henri’s curiosity overcame her frustration, and she followed him to the small room he had been using as an office. The desk was blanketed with papers covered in his neat handwriting, and she could see the sketch laid out alongside copious notes.
“I have decided to tell you about my mission,” Henri said, settling into the chair across from his desk. If he would not volunteer information about himself, perhaps sharing her own secrets would encourage reciprocity. “I was at Danbury’s on behalf of Signor Lorenzo di Bianchi, an art historian who has been researching Arthurian legends. We believed the Malory manuscript might contain clues to his ancestor who went missing here in England.”
Gabriel nodded slowly. “And the sketch?”
“It was hidden in a family painting. Signor di Bianchi suspected it was a map of some kind, but neither of us could decipher it.”
Gabriel’s expression grew animated as he turned the sketch toward her. “Indeed I have. Look here, these letters and numbers below the drawing. I used the manuscript text to decipher them, and they all point to one location.”
Henri leaned forward eagerly to study the markings he indicated. “You managed to break the code?”
“The manuscript provided the key,” Gabriel explained, gesturing to his pages of notes. “Once I understood the pattern, the letters and numbers revealed a clear reference.”
The sketch showed a veiled knight with a sword in his hand, standing before a pillared arch that was shrouded in swirling smoke. At the knight’s feet, a serpent coiled around what appeared to be fragments of a shattered crown.
“The imagery follows classic Arthurian symbolism,” Gabriel explained, pointing to the various elements. “The knight represents the quest for truth. His face is hidden because the seeker must prove worthy before the revelation. The serpent coiled at his feet signifies treachery and betrayal. The forces that brought down Arthur’s kingdom.”
Henri studied the dark fragments strewn around the serpent. “And the shattered crown?”
“Arthur’s broken realm,” Gabriel replied solemnly. “In the legends, Arthur’s crown was shattered when Camelot was destroyed. The fragments represent the lost kingdom. Dispersed and hidden, waiting to be restored when the rightful heir returns.”
Then he pointed to the code written beneath the drawing.
“These letters and numbers. See here, K-12-7, and here, R-15-3, and scattered throughout are more sequences like G-8-11 and S-4-9.”
Gabriel opened the Malory manuscript to demonstrate his method. “The letters and numbers correspond to specific words in Malory’s text,” he explained, his finger moving between the sketch and the manuscript pages. “Each coded sequence tells you exactly which word to extract.”
He showed Henri his method. “The Winchester copy is not set out in numbered chapters. Each new passage begins with a large titled line. Here the code uses the first letter of that heading. K marks a passage that begins ‘King Arthur,’ and Rmarks one that begins ‘Round Table.’ So K-12-7 means the twelfth such passage, seventh word. R-15-3 is the fifteenth ‘Round Table’ passage, third word. If we gather each word in the order set out on the sketch, the hidden message appears.”
Henri watched as Gabriel demonstrated, finding each word in the manuscript according to the cipher.
“The brilliance is in its simplicity. Anyone with access to this specific manuscript can solve it, but without the key text, the numbers are meaningless.”
“You are brilliant.”
His cheeks reddened, the only indication he had heard her, as he continued. “When I extracted each word according to the cipher, they formed this clear directive.” He showed Henri the phrase he had assembled.
She squinted at his sprawling handwriting, reading it out loud. “Where armies fell and smoke rose, truth lies in ash and stone. Seek the chapel that never was.”
Gabriel gestured toward the sketch. “At first, I thought the curl of smoke a fanciful embellishment. But look closely. The line rises in a long, even sweep, narrowing to a fine point, just like the solitary hill of Roseberry Topping. Even the shading suggests the soft wreath of morning mist that clings to its slopes, giving it the look of a pale crown adrift in the clouds. And here, the stones set in this pattern. Not random, but radiating outward like the petals of a rose.” Gabriel’s eyes lit up as he explained the final connection. “The artist is not merely drawing. He is enciphering. Stones for the rose, the smoke for the hill. I was stationed near there once. It rises alone above the plain, unmistakable against the sky. The villagers call it the Rose of Smoke for the way the mist enfolds it at dawn. My tutor spoke of it with reverence and claimed Arthur fought battles in its shadow. I dismissed it as another fireside tale until now. Thissketch is no coincidence. It directs us to a particular ruin, what the clue names ‘the chapel that never was.’”
Henri wondered about the tutor. His tone made her think that the man was no longer part of this mortal coil, but she did not know what to say. How to ask. Gabriel was so private about his thoughts.
He looked up at her with obvious satisfaction. “There are ancient ruins near Roseberry Topping, believed by some to have once been a chapel where Arthur’s sword was blessed. But according to the deciphered message, there is something more. A chapel that perhaps contains the next piece of the puzzle.”
Henri stared at the elegant cipher work spread before them, amazed by the complexity hidden within what had appeared to be a simple medieval drawing. Gabriel’s analytical skills had transformed seemingly random symbolic elements into a precise map, revealing layers of meaning that connected Renaissance artistry to ancient Arthurian legend.
“This is incredible.”
Gabriel nodded. “After we are wed, we shall return to England and investigate properly.”
Henri felt emboldened by his enthusiasm to press for more information. “Gabriel, what were you doing at Danbury’s that morning? What is your interest in the Malory manuscript?”
