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graduated from Auburn Veterinary College. In my day you would have been an old maid at that age. You were twenty-four, as I recall.”
    â€œMemory like a wizard.” Harry smiled, then sighed. “I guess I know what you mean about Lucinda. It’s sad really.”
    â€œFor her it’s a tragedy.”
    â€œHumans take marriage too seriously.”
Pewter licked her paw and began smoothing down her fur.
“My mother used to say, ‘Don’t worry about tomcats. There’s one coming around every corner like a streetcar.’ ”
    â€œYour mother lived to a ripe old age, so she must have known something,”
Mrs. Murphy recalled.
    â€œMaybe Lucinda should go to a therapist or something,” Harry thought out loud.
    â€œShe ought to try her minister first.” Mrs. Hogendobber walked over to the window and watched the huge raindrops splash on the brick walkway.
    â€œYou know what I can’t figure?” Harry joined her.
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œWho in the world would want Samson Coles?”

6
    The steady rain played havoc with Kimball’s work. His staff stretched a bright blue plastic sheet onto four poles which helped keep off the worst of the rain, but it trickled down into the earthen pit as they had cut down a good five feet.
    A young German woman, Heike Holtz, carefully brushed away the soil. Her knees were mud-soaked, her hands also, but she didn’t care. She’d come to America specifically to work with Kimball Haynes. Her long-range goal was to return to Germany and begin similar excavations and reconstruction at Sans Souci. Since this beautiful palace was in Potsdam, in the former East Germany, she suffered few illusions about raising money or generating interest for the task. But she was sure that sooner or later her countrymen would try to save what they could before it fell down about their ears. As an archaeologist, she deplored the Russians’ callous disregard for the majority of the fabulous architecture under their control. At least they had preserved the Kremlin. As to how they treated her people, she wisely kept silent. Americans, so fortunate for the most part, would never understand that kind of systematic oppression.
    â€œHeike, go on and take a break. You’ve been in this chill since early this morning.” Kimball’s light blue eyes radiated sympathy.
    She spoke in an engaging accent, musical and very seductive. She didn’t need the accent. Heike was a knockout. “No, no, Professor Haynes. I’m learning too much to leave.”
    He patted her on the back. “You’re going to be here for a year, and Heike, if the gods smile down upon me, I think I can get you an appointment at the university so you can stay longer than that. You’re good.”
    She bent her head closer to her task, too shy to accept the praise by looking him in the eye. “Thank you.”
    â€œGo on, take a break.”
    â€œThis will sound bizarre,” she accented the
bi
heavily, “but I feel something.”
    â€œI’m sure you do,” he laughed. “Chilblains.”
    He stepped out of the hearth where Heike was working. The fireplace had been one of the wooden fireplaces which caught fire. Charred bits studded one layer of earth, and they were just now getting below that. Whoever cleaned up after the fire removed as much ash as they could. Two other students worked also.
    Heike pawed with her hands, carefully but with remarkable intensity. “Professor.”
    Kimball returned to her and quickly knelt down. He was working alongside her now. Each of them laboring with swift precision.
    â€œMein Gott!”
Heike exclaimed.
    â€œWe got more than we bargained for, kiddo.” Kimball wiped his hand across his jaw, forgetting the mud. He called to Sylvia and Joe, his other two students working in this section. “Joe, go on up and get Oliver Zeve.”
    Joe and Sylvia peered at the