Subject: "I, I still do not completely understand."
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Posted on: 2015-05-22 22:07:00 UTC
"Oh well, I trust I will be able to find the answer you gave with proper study. As for my magic... hm. A demonstration. A simple cantrip, of Norrellite manufacture, alas, alas, but it will do. Hm." Algie rifled through the contents of his pocket. "I have need of a mirror and - sir! Sir, I am sorry to impose, but your luncheon there, does it contain meat of any kind?"
The secretary looked at his cheeseburger. "Y'know, pal, I really ...in' hope so."
"Capital! I will only require it for the briefest of moments. If I may? I promise that it will be unsullied, on my honour as a gentleman and magician!" Algie yanked the burger out of the secretary's unresisting hands and placed it around a compact mirror. He breathed on the mirror, drew a circle, and quartered it, and there it was. The mirror showed an elderly man.
"Linfield! That old cur! Ha, I knew him for a mischief-maker the moment I saw him! That, Sir Guardsman, is Praisegod Linfield, Bishop of Salisbury, possessor of the aptest name in the country, and arch-Norrellite of the most grievous colour! His pamphlets are well-researched, but only because he has the blessing and funding of the Church at his disposal! What I could have done with that money... I tell you what I would not, Sir, and that is to fritter it away on scurrilous and derogatory pamphleteering! Old Puritan. I'll have his hide!"
"Yeah, boo, hiss, et cetera, can I have my lunch back please? Thanks, bud." The secretary picked up his burger and began to eat, noisily and with gusto. Algie did his best not to make a face.
"That, Sir Guardsman, is English magic. It can do more. Had I a bowl of silver and river-water to fill it with, I could repair any item at a word. I could summon a gentleman from Lost-Hope - and I believe I know the doing of that - but... I fear it pales in comparison to technology. I mean to say, Sir, your portals... they only appeared in the prophecy of the Raven King."
And this time, Algie did not speak, but intoned.
The rain made a door for me and I went through it;
The rain shall make a door for me and I shall pass through it.
And the air trembled, like a guttering candle.