In a certain central college, maybe staircase five or six,
There’s an unconcluded stairway, which appears to end in bricks.
Undergrads assume that there’s a chamber, with a ghost,
Of a medieval tutor who expired from too much toast.

A chamber there exists, but within: a living man.
In fact a captive Dexter and he doesn’t have a plan.
For his clever crazy brother who has recently escaped
From a local institution is distinctly Dexter-shaped.

Meanwhile the noble Robert is half consumed with fear,
He longs to go and comfort Kate but knows he can’t go near.
He thinks his course is righteous but he hosts a growing doubt,
Like a spaniel in the wardrobe, ever scratching to get out.

And was it a coincidence that Heidi planned a trip
To a place of great conspiracy where Kate might lose her grip?
And just an hour before she organised their destination,
Just whom was Heidi calling from that payphone at the station?

Kate gets home, still somewhat damp, and finds a piece of paper.
She reads it once, then twice, then thrice, then lets a smile escape her.
She makes a little parcel, stops to eat some curly kale,
No more key for me, hums she, and runs to catch the mail.

Eleanor sees this, and more, that girl sure gets about,
She could be grinning also, your narrator has some doubt.
But no rest for the wicked, she still has one thing to do.
She buys six cut price sandwiches, then disappears from view.

And so she misses Rob, who is sprinting like a hare,
He flies pell-mell down Catte Street and skids into Radcliffe Square.
Then, deep inside the Bodleian, the dreaded call of “Fire!”
A terrible short circuit: perhaps a rabbit’s chewed a wire....

Read Chapter 6

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