” Torcull, a half-brother o’ King Brien, had been crowned High King, for a’ that he were the bastard spawn of a dalliance wi’ a crofter’s dochter, but a gude king he’s proved, for a’. Mony a high hoose had been wiped oot, entire, so meself resolved tae win an empty throne for me Tim. I began tae gather men and, when a respectable-size band I had, it’s King Torcull I went tae, for we was friends of auld. When he’d hear’d me oot, he was after givin’ me his blessings as High King as weel as loanin’ me half what was left o’ the army.
” ‘Noo, Tim’s grandmither—me second wife—were a lawful-born half-sister o’ King Ahmladh o’ Lagan. His ain mither were a dochter o’ the hoose o’ Ahmladh’s cousin an’ suo % King Seosaidh, an’ the bouchal, hisself, chanced tae be in Lagan. So, wi’ the most o’ the Royal Hoose o’ La-cauld in the clay, it were clear that me Tim had as guid a claim as ony an’ far better nor some tae the throne o’ his ituncle.’ He sighed. ‘An’ that be hoo it were, Ken. Wi’ loan o’ Tara troops, me force were near twicet agin the o’ ony ithers, an’ as King Ahmladh IV, Tim now be into if secun’ year o’ his reign, is wedded a year tae a pretty, little thing oof n the Hoose o’ Muma an’ she’s a-nursm’ a foine, strappin’ bouchal twa moon, noo.’
‘And you saved no capsules at all, Emmett?’ I asked him.
” ‘Anely these twa.’ He operated a hidden catch which a cunning master jeweler had worked into his smooth-worn class ring and produced two capsules from within the secret chamber.
“At the recommended dosages, Bass, we had then between us enough to maintain us for no more than sixty years before we began to age. Now this meant far less to me than it did to Emmett, for I had been middle-aged to begin with, but he was a young man and was literally horrified at the thought that he might lose his youth, vigor, looks, and abilities. Though I offered to freely give him all of my remaining capsules, he would not be mollified, and, at length, decided to see if he could use the console to bring into this world that portion of the lab in which were the components and devices for manufacturing a fresh supply of capsules.”
“So you two came up here to Whyffler Hall then, eh?” said Foster.
“Not so,” answered the Archbishop. “We first needed King Arthur’s permission to break his father’s seals and have the wall covering the door to the tower cellars dismantled. Too, affairs detained me in York, so there was nothing for it but that Emmett remain there a-fretting for a few months . . . and so he did.
“He and I had intended to journey to London or Oxford or Bath, wherever the King happened to be when I could wrench free, but as it happened, Arthur and his court arrived in York before I found time to leave. Of course, Arthur was privy to my ‘secret’ as his father had been, and when I had explained the matter to him, he had a document prepared giving me a lifetime right to enter royally sealed buildings and chambers at my discretion. I think he was eager to come up with us and see these marvels, but the poor man was even more harried with affairs of state than was I with ecclesiastical matters, and as many of his court and council had died of the Plague, he need must labor with half-trained replacements.
The royal party remained for two months in York, then moved on in the then-regular circuit, but still I was unable to break away, so I finally dispatched Emmett—provided with the royal document—as my emissary, to Whyffler Hall that he might examine the console and commence certain needed modifications we had discussed. When at long last I gained a respite from my many duties, I journeyed north and joined Emmett here.
‘This hall, built in stages, had but Just been finished then, Bass. The present formal gardens had not even yet been sketched, so it was fairly easy for us to pace off the distances, compare them with our two memories of the distances involved on that other world, and make the appropriate settings on the console. Sir James had died of camp fever in the War of the Three Marriages, and Whyffler Hall was then held by his grandson, young John Whyffler, who was Sir Francis’ grandfather. Naturally, the young man was terribly curious about all that was going on, but be also was a very proper young man and never intruded, making it a point to mind his own business and to see that his family and household did the same.