DEATH BEFORE WICKET - Poisoned Pen Press (UK)

Kerry Greenwood
‘It was built by Edmund Blacket in 1859 in a style he called
Tudor Perpendicular Gothic. The dimensions are based on the
Guildhall in London. You really need to come during the day to
see the windows at their finest; the glass was made in England and
shipped out here, though the actual stone is from Pyrmont.’
Phryne admired the marble statues of two benefactors,
William Wentworth and John Challis, and then stood under a
magnificent window depicting Schoolmen and considered the
angel roof.
‘Wonderful,’ she murmured with perfect truth. Wooden
secular angels crowned with gold leaned out from the hammer
beams, each bearing a book. Forty-five feet above her head was
Poetica, flanked by Dialectica and Grammatica.
‘They constitute the Trivium; that is, the three subjects which
gave a scholar in the Middle Ages the rank of Bachelor of Arts.’
Jeoffry Bisset, recovered from his gaffe, was at Phryne’s left hand.
‘Then we have the Quadrivium—Arithmetica, Geographica,
Astronomica and Musica—that would make the scholar a
master; they are the seven liberal arts. The angel with the scroll
says, Scientia inflat, charitas aedificat—knowledge puffeth up but
charity…er…edifieth. We think they are rather fine.’
‘They are beautiful,’ agreed Phryne, wishing that the server
had also followed. There seemed to be nothing for it but to
continue the tour, so she admired the grey and white marble
floor, the bosses and corbels, and nodded respectfully to William
Shakespeare in his window, hoping that he would get along
with his companions, John Ford, Francis Beaumont and his
colleague Fletcher.
‘What’s the symbol on Grammatica’s book?’ she asked.
‘A roll of papyrus—oh, my hat, I haven’t reported to the Dean
yet about the Oxyrrinchus papyrus, I just remembered.’
Phryne wanted something else to talk about.
‘The Oxyrrinchus papyrus?’ she asked sweetly, laying a hand
on Bisset’s arm.
‘Yes, you see, there was a huge find in Egypt a few years
ago, a stone pit absolutely full of papyri, gigantic job to get it