Sentence the Threehundredandthirtyfourth
Theresa took Maude and Patience, in her car, while the imperturbable WPC Isa Urquhart – exhilarated by the success of her performance as Sally Bowles at The Kit Kat Klub night – drove Daphne and Thomas; perhaps not surprisingly, it was Patience, although by far the younger of the two, who was the least concerned by their mode of travel: she smiled as she realised that there were no horses to pull the carriage (a compact Red Renault Clio) and asked Teri what her Groom did all day, offering a rather ludic and decidedly cheeky smirk which gave a hint of the young girl whose life had truly been overturned when she fell from the Ferry-boat into the Tweed two hundred years earlier, although, Teri realised, for Patience herself, it was probably no more than 6 months to a year since the event; on the other hand, Thomas, for all his maturity, came from a pre-industrial age and had shown signs of agitation when Isa opened the door of her pink Citroen Cactus, obviously
wondering why he was being put in a box! Daphne climbed in the back, hiding well her trepidation at being once again a passenger with her otherwise sweet-natured niece who, behind a steering wheel, became a Gurrrrl-Racer and in a level tone she exhorted Isa to remember that she had a passenger
who had never before seen, never mind been in, a motor car and that persuaded Thomas, not wishing to seem fearful, and he took the front passenger seat but when he realised that no horses were required he asked the inevitable: “is this witchcraft?” at which Isa laughed heartily and replied: “I've been called many things, Thomas, most of them unmentionable in polite society,” indicating with her thumb her aged aunt who glared back in return, “but never before a Witch! now, should I feel insulted or complimented?” Thomas had laughed and that broke the ice, he visibly relaxed, and even when he realised that this chariot indeed travelled without the need for horses, something which his imagination could not have conceived possible, he managed to gaze around at the very different scenes around him as Isa drove them to Earlston where Ludmilla Lermontova met them by the ruins of Rhymer's Tower; here, Thomas stood and stared at the tumble of stones which, he confirmed, had
indeed been the site of his family home – “what became of it?” he asked, and Daphne assured him that the dismantling of the Tower had been simply the result of Time, rather than any destruction caused by Man; “and my family?” he asked, and was delighted when Ludmilla was introduced as a direct descendant of his: “my father, in his youth, looked very like you, sir,” said Ludmilla, and Thomas, for his part, saw in her a great deal of his beloved wife, and he became fretful at the thought of never again meeting his own young family, though Daphne assured him that the literary output of his later years and first-hand testimony regarding his activities, demonstrated that he would indeed return to his own Time; Thomas was very taken with Ludmilla, saying that he felt very privileged to meet her: “most men would consider themselves fortunate indeed, were they to live to see their own grandchildren, but to know that my own blood still runs in the veins of one who bears my family name, even though it be spelt differently, is an honour and marvel I can barely grasp, let alone describe,” and Ludmilla, for her part, spoke of how her ancestor, Mikhael Lermontov was one of Russia's greatest poets, being descended from one of Thomas's own descendants, including the rather infamous Maxim Lermontov who was a celebrated lover of Catherine the Great and often boasted of the origin of his given name! but Thomas was especially interested to hear that the birthplace of the Russian Poet had been changed to Lermontovo in his honour, “why,” declared Ludmilla, this village should be renamed in honour of you, Master Thomas,” and Thomas blushed, with a mixture of pride and modesty, and acute embarrassment; and he admitted that it did rankle, that none of his descendants had seen fit to maintain or rebuild their family home, but rather, had left it to rot! “why! everything is catawampus! did they not care or have any self-respect?” and at Isa's suggestion, in order to lighten the gloom which seemed to have settled upon Thomas at the sight of his Home tumbled to a pile of boulders, they all went into the adjacent café to await Teri and her passengers, over coffees and cakes! what a brainwave! Café Culture seemed to be an instant hit with Thomas, even more so than the Klub Night and Isa wondered if there was any way of introducing it to the Middle Ages?
Theresa took Maude and Patience, in her car, while the imperturbable WPC Isa Urquhart – exhilarated by the success of her performance as Sally Bowles at The Kit Kat Klub night – drove Daphne and Thomas; perhaps not surprisingly, it was Patience, although by far the younger of the two, who was the least concerned by their mode of travel: she smiled as she realised that there were no horses to pull the carriage (a compact Red Renault Clio) and asked Teri what her Groom did all day, offering a rather ludic and decidedly cheeky smirk which gave a hint of the young girl whose life had truly been overturned when she fell from the Ferry-boat into the Tweed two hundred years earlier, although, Teri realised, for Patience herself, it was probably no more than 6 months to a year since the event; on the other hand, Thomas, for all his maturity, came from a pre-industrial age and had shown signs of agitation when Isa opened the door of her pink Citroen Cactus, obviously
wondering why he was being put in a box! Daphne climbed in the back, hiding well her trepidation at being once again a passenger with her otherwise sweet-natured niece who, behind a steering wheel, became a Gurrrrl-Racer and in a level tone she exhorted Isa to remember that she had a passengerwho had never before seen, never mind been in, a motor car and that persuaded Thomas, not wishing to seem fearful, and he took the front passenger seat but when he realised that no horses were required he asked the inevitable: “is this witchcraft?” at which Isa laughed heartily and replied: “I've been called many things, Thomas, most of them unmentionable in polite society,” indicating with her thumb her aged aunt who glared back in return, “but never before a Witch! now, should I feel insulted or complimented?” Thomas had laughed and that broke the ice, he visibly relaxed, and even when he realised that this chariot indeed travelled without the need for horses, something which his imagination could not have conceived possible, he managed to gaze around at the very different scenes around him as Isa drove them to Earlston where Ludmilla Lermontova met them by the ruins of Rhymer's Tower; here, Thomas stood and stared at the tumble of stones which, he confirmed, had indeed been the site of his family home – “what became of it?” he asked, and Daphne assured him that the dismantling of the Tower had been simply the result of Time, rather than any destruction caused by Man; “and my family?” he asked, and was delighted when Ludmilla was introduced as a direct descendant of his: “my father, in his youth, looked very like you, sir,” said Ludmilla, and Thomas, for his part, saw in her a great deal of his beloved wife, and he became fretful at the thought of never again meeting his own young family, though Daphne assured him that the literary output of his later years and first-hand testimony regarding his activities, demonstrated that he would indeed return to his own Time; Thomas was very taken with Ludmilla, saying that he felt very privileged to meet her: “most men would consider themselves fortunate indeed, were they to live to see their own grandchildren, but to know that my own blood still runs in the veins of one who bears my family name, even though it be spelt differently, is an honour and marvel I can barely grasp, let alone describe,” and Ludmilla, for her part, spoke of how her ancestor, Mikhael Lermontov was one of Russia's greatest poets, being descended from one of Thomas's own descendants, including the rather infamous Maxim Lermontov who was a celebrated lover of Catherine the Great and often boasted of the origin of his given name! but Thomas was especially interested to hear that the birthplace of the Russian Poet had been changed to Lermontovo in his honour, “why,” declared Ludmilla, this village should be renamed in honour of you, Master Thomas,” and Thomas blushed, with a mixture of pride and modesty, and acute embarrassment; and he admitted that it did rankle, that none of his descendants had seen fit to maintain or rebuild their family home, but rather, had left it to rot! “why! everything is catawampus! did they not care or have any self-respect?” and at Isa's suggestion, in order to lighten the gloom which seemed to have settled upon Thomas at the sight of his Home tumbled to a pile of boulders, they all went into the adjacent café to await Teri and her passengers, over coffees and cakes! what a brainwave! Café Culture seemed to be an instant hit with Thomas, even more so than the Klub Night and Isa wondered if there was any way of introducing it to the Middle Ages?
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