Chapter 59 Chapter 58

At half past one the next day we arrived at Stoichev's gate on time.In the courtyard we saw groups of men and a few women gathered under the arbor, and Helena, pacing briskly up and down behind the table, saw us and hurried up to us with open arms.She shook hands with Ranov and I, and kissed Helen on the cheek. We found Stoichev being greeted under an apple tree. "Ah, hello!" he cried, struggling to his feet.Others hurried up to help him, while waiting to greet us, "Welcome, my friends. Please come and meet my other friends." He gestured weakly, referring to those around him, "These are the students I taught before the war. They are so kind. They come back to see me." They smiled and shook our hands warmly.

Meanwhile, Stoichev's students were apparently competing to see who would bring him the most food.Everyone smiled and toasted him, some with tears in their eyes. I thought of Rossi.How humbly he listened to our cheers and words of praise as we celebrated his twenty years of teaching.Something is blocking my throat. People sat down again to eat and talk, and Helen and I were seated in honored seats next to Stoichev. After a while, Stoichev's students began to disperse, and as soon as they had gone, Stoichev turned to us eagerly, "Come," he said, "while we have a chance, let's talk .”

"Of course," I pulled the chair closer to him, and Helen did the same. "First of all, my friends," said Stoichev, "I have read carefully the letter you left yesterday. It is a copy of yours. I give it to you now and keep it. I have read it many times, I believe mine was written by the same person. Of course, I think we can trust that these letters were part of a single correspondence. Now I have other thoughts, but first you talk more about your research, I feel You came to Bulgaria not only to learn about our monastery. How did you find out about this letter?"

I told him the reasons why we started this study were hard for me to explain because they sounded absurd, "You said you had read Professor Bartholomew Rossi, Helen's father. Not long ago He disappeared strangely." I described the dragon book and other things to Stoichev as briefly and clearly as possible.With so many people present, I didn't dare to take out any materials from the briefcase, but I described to him the resemblance of the three pictures and the third picture to the dragon in the strange book. He interrupted me just once, eager for me to describe each dragon book in detail—mine, Rosie's, Hugh James's, and Turgut's, "I'm bringing mine," I added In a word, he touched the briefcase on his lap.

He stared, startled, "I'd like to read this book, if possible," but he was more interested in what Turgut and Selim had discovered. "Snagov," he said in a low voice. Low said, his old face was flushed, and for a while I was afraid that he would faint, "I should have known this a long time ago, that letter has been in my study for thirty years!" I wish I had also had the opportunity to ask him where he found the letter, "You see, there is good evidence that Brother Kirill's companions traveled first from Wallachia to Constantinople and then to Bulgaria ,"I say.

"Yes," he shook his head, "I always thought that letter was about the monks' pilgrimage from Constantinople to Bulgaria. It never occurred to me—Maxim Eupalatius— The abbot of Snagov—” The whirling thoughts blew across his old, unpredictable face like a gale, and seemed to sweep him away, and he had to blink quickly, "And the word you found; And Hugh James, in Budapest—” "Do you know what it means?" I asked impatiently. "Yes," said Stoichev, who was not looking at me, but seemed to see through me again, "the name is Antin Evelino, a scholar and printer in Snagov at the end of the seventeenth century. I read I have written about Evelinu. He was famous in the academic circles of his day. I have a lot to show you!"

He opened his eyes wide and shook his head, "Let's go to my room, quick!" We don't need to be urged.Just based on the expression on his face, I would be willing to climb the cliff with him.I found books and manuscripts scattered on the table that I hadn't seen yesterday. "I don't know much about that letter, or any other letters," Stoichev said, recovering. "Other letters?" Helen sat down beside him. "Brother Kirill wrote two other letters - with mine and the one in Istanbul, there are four. It is an astonishing discovery to have the four letters reunited. But this is not what I want to show you. "

After a while, he went into another room and came back with a paper book, which turned out to be an old academic journal, in German. "I have a friend—" he paused, "if only he had survived to this day! I told you—his name was Atanas Angelov—he was a Bulgarian historian, my One of the first teachers. In 1923 he was doing research in the library at Rila, one of our treasure houses rich in medieval documents. There he discovered a manuscript of the fifteenth century - it contained Under the wooden cover of a fifteenth-century folio. He wanted to publish the manuscript. It records a journey from Wallachia to Bulgaria. He died while making notes on it. I finished his work and Published the article. The manuscript is still in Lila—I didn't expect it at all—" His fragile hand scratched his head, "Here, come on, it's in Bulgarian, but let's take a look, and I'll tell you the most important place."

With a trembling hand he opened faded journals, and his voice trembled as he gave us an outline of Angelov's discovery.His articles and manuscripts based on Angelov's notes were later published in English with many corrections and numerous footnotes.Even now, when I read this article, I can't help but think of Stoichev's old face, with strands of hair hanging over his rabbit ears, and his big eyes looking down on the page, with an expression of intense concentration, the most unforgettable It was his hesitant voice. "