The Name of the Rose

“Matins, in which the princes sederunt, and Malachi slumps to the ground”

During morning prayer, all notice that Malachi is absent. The abbot is worried and Jorge is “unusually agitated” as he desperately gropes the seat next to him to determine whether the librarian is there (497). After a long chanting session, Adso and the others notice Malachi is now in his usual seat. Moments later, the librarian slumps forward, and when a novice tries to wake him, he falls unconscious to the floor. William leaps forward, noticing the labored breathing and blackish tongue. Malachi reaches for William, saying: “he told me…it had the power of a thousand scorpions,” and then he dies (501). William confronts Bernard Gui, asking “who killed this man, after you so cleverly found…the murderers” (501). But Bernarddeparts, for he no longer cares about the troubles in the abbey. At that moment, everyone hears choked sobs, and they see Jorge kneeling on the floor, weeping that “it will never end” (502). William turns the dead man’s hands over to find the first three fingers of the right hand blackened, just as the other two victims’ fingers had been.