Grantville Gazette 37

'Rothrock told me that when Arundel first read my report of the attack against the library and school, he was shaking with fury. He struck his fist against the dining table so hard that the plates jumped, and roared 'Never again.' He is determined that everything that is of use must be copied, translated, archived, and taught in so many places that there will never again be a place where it can all be destroyed at one blow. As you may well imagine, I am one of many who share in that purpose.'

Olivia couldn't stop her face from showing the bitterness she felt. 'I hope to hell he can find better help than he did the last time.'

Carlos looked off toward the picket fence for a moment and snorted. 'He'll sure need a lot of it. Does he have any idea how big a job he's talking about?'

'Oh, he fully understands that he cannot fund such a massive task from his own purse, nor even direct it. Many scholars are already at work with and without him; they have reasons enough of their own. No, what he hopes to do is assist, encourage, lightly guide, whisper a word in the right ear, spend a few guilders where they would clear away whatever bottleneck is most troublesome. Of special importance, watch for key omissions and commission someone capable of attending to them, so that essential accomplishments that might take decades take years instead, or some that might take years should take months. He'd hoped the University of Padua might become a center for it all, but Bennet's offenses against decency there have come to light and made it impossible for him to accomplish anything. He's with Samuel Hartlib in Leiden now. They're constantly at the engineering school and the university.

'As for me, he's written of hopes to hurry along certain important improvements in printing. He wishes me to meet with the Kubiaks to see what might be done.'

Olivia lowered her cup to her lap and looked at him. 'You know, outside of editing our manuscript, reading is about all I've been doing lately. Good luck getting anything about England straightened out, with that bloody-handed madman Charles Stuart in the way. Not to mention Boyle. And I wonder what Cromwell's up to, now that he's loose?'

'The Stuarts . . . Even here in Grantville, I shall not speak of them. The rest of the landed aristocracy, well, little is likely to be done with England's wealth of coal, of iron, of timber and deep harbors and hard-working folk, while so few keep their grip on the land and the gold, and use it only for extravagant entertainments and displays of curiosities, wrestling for political advantage. And Arundel, being of that aristocracy, will need to be agile, if he hopes to gain by such an overturning of the order. But any courtier must be agile, always.

'But Cromwell, now, there's a joker in the deck! It's said he travels with a radio operator, and knows many things the other Cromwell did not. I wonder who may be busy among the libraries and factories of Grantville on his behalf?

'Meanwhile, having fulfilled the commission I agreed to, I have a new offer from Arundel. His son, Lord William Howard, is to study here, and he wishes to engage me to guide him. I'm giving it serious consideration, after our book is at the printers.'

October

'Beautiful, Carlos. Stunning. Is it what I think?'

'Yeah, Will, it's one of the little geodes Jack cemented to the Wall, and, yes, it turned out to be ametrine inside. The other one's in Roth's vault. Go ahead and pick it up. Have a look.'

Oughtred turned it under the brilliant light over the bench where Carlos had been working at it. With the dull crust gone, it was still close to five inches across.

Carlos pointed with a pencil. 'If you squint, you can kind of see the outlines of the continents in it.

'I didn't want to just cut this up and sell it off in little pieces, like that guy in Jena did with what Tim brought him. Jeeze, I wish to heck I'd mentioned what got stolen, sometime at the Gardens when Tim was around. Or if he'd just said something about what he and Sybil found.

'Anyway, we got this back. But now I don't know what to do with it. It's probably worth an emperor's ransom.'

'I don't doubt it is, Carlos. And our emperor has better sense than to squander all he has on pretense and display. Well, then, why not let Roth manage the sale? He would surely know the price of such a marvel, and how best to bring it to market.'

****

Olivia didn't put her hand on her pistol, but she stood with her body between it and the door as she turned the knob with her other hand.

A messenger from das Furstenhaus Thurn und Taxis handed her a thick packet and a receipt to sign.

As she took it to the dining room table, she called down the cellar stairs, 'Carlos! Will! Come on up and look at this thing!'

Will's eyebrows rose when he saw the parchment outer envelope, complete with a green satin ribbon sealed in amber wax with the sigil of the Earl of Arundel.

The letter, when she opened it, was dated September 21, 1634.

'You've become a personage of note, Olivia; that's the earl's own handwriting.'

'Um, okay . . . looks like the first part of this is an abject apology for dumping Bennet in our laps, and everything he did . . . Huh? He and Lady Alethea are coming to Grantville, and he wants to visit us and apologize again in person. But will you listen to this! He says 'no noble lady, however distantly related to my house, should have suffered such indignities and offenses!' Good grief, Will, I thought you said he understood our laws and why they're the way they are, after everything you sent him. It doesn't matter who I'm related to, nobody from a scrubwoman to a senator should have to go through what I did! I think I'll write to him myself and tell him thanks for the sympathy, but they hung Bennet for what he did, not who he did it to, and the laws in this state are the same for everybody. He'd damn well better get that through his head, if he's coming here.'

Will stood with a startled expression on his face, while she picked up the inner envelope, the same as the outer, and sealed in the same way. Her hand still trembled with indignation as she broke the seal and opened it; the letter inside slipped out and fluttered to the table.

She picked it up, still shaking her head at how obtuse the nobility could be, even when they were trying to be fair and decent. She began reading. After the salutations and the expressions of sympathy and regret, came the heart of the missive.

****

My lord husband and I have found much to ponder in Master Oughtred's many letters, together with the books and documents he hath commended to our attention. Among these are A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, as well the provisions of the old United States Constitution. If you and the justly famed Mistress Mailey would do me the honour of calling at our suite during our stay in Grantville, I would very much like to hear your thoughts of the history of your Nineteenth Amendment and in what manner its like might be brought home to England, for I fear that our land may never find her rightful place as long as half her people are denied theirs.

Lady Alethea, Countess Arundel

****

Second Chance Bird, Episode Six

Garrett W. Vance

Chapter Thirty-One: One Man's Junk is Another's Treasure

Captured Oriental Junk, South Coast of Mauritius

Pam and Dore climbed the wide, stair-like ladder out of the cool shadows of the lower decks to stand blinking beneath the Tropic of Capricorn's blazing sun. Squinting against the glare, Pam saw Dore looking wistfully back