Give Me A Sign

Not longer an monastery, the building turned out to be a public museum now. Gabriel and Eve bought two tickets and asked for a guide. But there was just an old man at the entrance who offered them a book about the history and the rebuilding of the old Abbey Saint-Remi.

Slowly they went through the rooms, most of not in use any more but some displays were placed in the middle of the cambers or next to the walls. In the show cases they spotted documents and clerical equipment but nothing special and no sign about Jean Baptiste Gobel or Nicolas Chamfort.

As they entered the former library, Eve pushed Gabriel and pointed at archway over a niche: there it was: the sign of the zodiac of the virgo! The library was divided into several niches and over every niche there was an archway with a zodiac sign.  This could not be just luck – this was a message.

As they looked around Gabriel had an idea. He told Eve that he has just a question for the man at the entrance and he disappeared quickly. Eve wandered around and found not only the zodiac signs but also painted pictures on the roofs of the alcoves with motive of the greek mythology: over there is Hercules, in the other corner she found Perseus and Cassiopeia near the zodiac of the Fish.

Gabriel came back with the man and had a book in his hand. He asked the older one, if he can say something about this library.

“It was build by Louis Deroché and the paintings were done by a student of Jean-Baptiste Greuze, Pierre Roché. What you find here are signs of the zodiac, as you already mentioned and ancient greek heroes and gods. The artist was told to draw the star atlas “Atlas Coelestis” by John Flamsteed, a british astronomer who lived till the twenties of the 17th century.

Other monasteries do have biblical or ecclesiastical images but Deroché was part of the Enlightenment establishment and wanted to have something else as decoration in here. Roché finished the work in 1780 and you will find the original cards of the northern hemisphere in this book, you have, Sir.”

Gabriel put the book on the next table and scrolled to the site, which showed the northern night sky with the stars and figures. He turned one page after the other and suddenly Eve squeaked. “Stop it!”

She pointed with the finger on the page, which showed the Pisces, the fishes: “Look there – there are two triangles on this page.” Gabriel nodded. “Fascinating. But these are two of them. Here are the Pisces, the Aries and Perseus next to them.” He looked around.

Eve was excited. She already went over to the niche, where she was before Gabriel’s return and showed him the paintings: “Over here we do have the figures. It’s the archway of the Pisces and the greek hero is on the right side. Watch out, there is the Aries, lying and holding his head to the left. But no triangles.”

Gabriel turned around and asked the man, but he had no clue if there are any triangles on the walls. They walked around the room, carefully scanning each corner and each wall. Nothing to find. The old one shrugged his shoulders, pegged for pardon and left. Eve and Gabriel turned back to the book, turning again page for page if there are any further hints.

Eve went to the Pisces again. There must be a connection between the carved triangles in the cathedrals and the paintings in this room. She whispered: “Where are these damn figures. It’s impossible. We found so much till now, there must be something in here.” “You are right. This is no luck anymore, the same people, who paid a lot of money for renovation work in the churches rebuild this Abbey after fire. The same persons were in the same party, did have the same ideas about science in these days. It was in the break of dawn before the French Revolution… This is no coincidence!”

“Hatschi”, the sound of a sneeze echoed in the nearly empty room. “Santé”, Gabriel said. “Thanks”, Eve opened her handbag and took out a handkerchief. A coin rolled around and pinged on the floor. She bend down and searched for the coin. “Ah… here we are!” It did not take Gabriel a second to join Eve on the floor at the nice.

The triangles! On the pedestal of the columns, which hold the archway the figures where carved into the stone. They were a bit hidden in the ornamental decorations, which where in made in gothic pointed arc style. But if someone knows, what to look for, the signs were clear: two triangles, one on the left and one on the right hand. Gabriel touched the right one and followed the carved lines with his fingers. The triangle had the same size as the ones in the signet and Eve did the same on her side.

Suddenly her finger disappeared in the stone. A tiny hole opened and Eve touched with two fingers around. She finally stood up with a little folded paper or piece of vellum in her hand. “I got something. Come on, lets go. Someone will find this hole.”

Gabriel put the finding in the Atlas and both ambled to the entrance. The old man was still there and Gabriel asked if he mind when he borrows the book for a moment. “It’s just something to read in for the cafe over there”, he said and foreboded to the exit.

As they left the building there was of course no time for having a drink – they had to calm down not to run to the car and get back to Paris. Gabriel smiled at Eve and saw a glance of excitement in her eyes and could nearly feel the joy of success.

It was a short drive back to Paris and as they entered the hotel, the porter stopped them immediately at the reception. There was an unforeseen occurrence in Eve’s room and if she mind for a minute, a police officer wanted to talk to her.