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dismembering and boiling of corpses, not dissection for scientific purposes,’
    Responded Mondino. ‘It was proclaimed mainly to avoid commerce in false reliquaries and the bones of saints.’
    Uberto did not reply. ‘We are looking for a murderer. He set fire to the house he lodged in and made his escape over the rooftops. Possibly carrying with him the corpse of the man he had killed.’
    ‘And you’ve decided to look for him in the school of medicine?’
    ‘The neighbours who put out the fire told us that he is one of your students. Your school is only a street away, it would be logical that he would think of taking refuge with you.’
    ‘What is not logical,’ said Mondino, through clenched teeth, ‘Is to conclude that I would provide refuge to a murderer. There is no one here.’
    There, he’d said it. He had lied. On opening the door to them, he was still not entirely sure that he wanted to run that risk, despite the promise he had made Gerardo and the interest he had in the corpse with the heart of iron. But the Inquisitor’s arrogance and the instinctive antipathy that he inspired did the rest, and now Mondino could not go back, even if he wanted to: he would never be pardoned for that lie. Now, saving Gerardo was the same thing as saving himself.
    ‘May we have a look?’
    ‘No. My word must suffice.’
    Uberto da Rimini made a sign to the guards and Mondino was seized by the arms. He tried to free himself with a tug, but the man behind held him by the waist. Mondino heard the noise of broken earthenware. One of them must have dropped a lamp.
    ‘Let me go, immediately!’
    ‘We only want to have a quick look round. If you’re not hiding anything then you’ve nothing to be afraid of.’
    ‘Many of my students live around here,’ said Mondino, with a fury that he could hardly contain. ‘I saw quite a lot of them helping to put out the fire just now. Would you really like me to call for help?’
    The guards loosened their grip imperceptibly. They knew well that the students welcomed any opportunity to create disorder, especially when one of them or their masters were under threat. Obviously Uberto da Rimini knew this too. He stared at Mondino with such an intimidating look that the physician required all his self control not to lower his eyes, then said quietly, ‘Let him go.’
    The armed guards took a step backwards, making the daggers that they wore at their sides clink together. Their faces were emotionless, and Mondino had the impression that they would have obeyed any order from the Inquisitor without blinking an eye, although they were in the employ of the city comune and not the Church. Besides, he imagined that refusing to obey an order from Uberto da Rimini could have unpleasant consequences.
    ‘We will arrest this man soon and make him confess everything,’ said the Dominican in a shrill voice, fixing him with a penetrating look. ‘I hope for your sake that you are not lying.’
    Uberto turned suddenly, making his black cloak undulate and the twisted linen cord encircling his white habit swing round, and he set off towards the Church of sant’Antonino, followed in silence by the guards.
    Although his throat burned with the desire to shout a stinging rejoinder after them, Mondino bowed his head and simply said, ‘Peace go with you, father.’
    As soon as he heard the door close again, Gerardo got out of the chest in which the physician had made him hide, on top of the dead body of his friend.
    ‘I couldn’t breathe any more,’ he said, taking great gulps of air.
    ‘Neither could I,’ replied Mondino. ‘And I was out of doors.’
    Silence fell. During his escape over the rooftops, Gerardo had not had time to think of anything else, and inside the chest his ears had been strained and his heart in tumult, as he waited, ready to carry out any desperate action if the Inquisitor had come in to search the house or if Mondino had betrayed him. Now that the danger had passed, his body,