Dear Govert,
Herewith you receive a new part of the Muscovite Chandelier.
So now you can travel to Anne-Lise. If you want to attend the
construction of the Crystal Castle and Lisabeth's mariage with
the Czar, then you'll have to come to Weezebeecke as soon as
possible. We'll leave next week.
Your Anne-Christine.
P.S. Take your Time-Machine with you. There isn't very much to
do in Moscow!
Anne-Christine licked the enveloppe.
"Ow", she exclaimed, "What a nasty taste, that glue!"
"Do you think he'll come?" Lisabeth asked.
"I hope so", said Anne-Christine. "I hope so."
It was a nice day and Anne-Christine and Lisabeth decided
to post the letter together in the little village. The girls
walked along silently until Anne-Christine asked a question
that had been burning on her lips for a long time:
"So you have seen the destruction of the Glasswork?"
Lisabeth had foreseen her question.
"Yes, I think so", she answered. "The second time
Gosseling didn't record the images from the piece of the
Chandelier, but instead he recorded the images from your
glass. Then we predicted the future with his calculator and
his projector."
"And what did you see then?" Anne-Christine asked, not
knowing how to hide her curiosity.
"The last images were of a Crystal Castle that came
tumbling down, amidst flashes of light and thick smoke."
"Did those images come to a halt right afterwards?" Anne-
Christine asked, while thinking about Lisabeth's words.
"For a long time, yes, but Gosseling ran out of glass
plates, so I can't tell you any more. Anyway, I don't think it
will be sensible to take the Glasswork to the Crystal Castle,
once it is finished."
"I don't know", Anne-Christine began, seated on her couch
in her Castle. "If those images which Gosseling predicted from
the Glasswork represent the future then we aren't allowed to
change this future, are we?"
"You are out of your mind, Anne!" said Lisabeth. "You
should have seen it. Just in black and white it was
frightening enough. If we let that happen, not only will my
Castle be destroyed but also everything in there. We really
have to prevent that from happening, Anne. Who says that we
are not allowed to change the future? You have to be careful
about changing the past, but the future is still flexible.
Gosseling may have been wrong with his calculations. And who
knows..."
Anne-Christine interrupted her:
"I think it will be a splendid idea to take my Glasswork
to your Castle as soon as possible".
"You'd better not!" Lisabeth cried. "Promise me you won't
ever do that! Please Anne! I've been designing that Castle for
so long. Please?"
"I don't know yet", Anne-Christine said, ignoring the
scared look in her friend's eyes. It rather seemed to ease her
mind that Lisabeth was very impressed by what she had
seen.
"Anne", Lisabeth said late that night, "I want you to
promise me not to take the Glasswork to the Castle."
"I won't do that", Anne-Christine said from the dark. "It
is my duty to make the Glasswork disapppear and I myself want
to get rid of it myself. All those worries! And besides, the
most natural way to destroy it is in the way which the
Glasswork shows itself."
Lisabeth didn't answer as she knew that insisting further
would be useless.
"At least let me become a Czarina first?" she shyly asked,
after a short while.
"I can promise you that!" Anne-Christine answered without
hesitation. And she crept to her bed-fellow to seal her
promise with a kiss.
Without sending a confirmation, Gosseling came driving
down the lane in a fiacre, which also contained his huge
machine. Inside there was no room left for him, so he had
joined the coachman.
"Good morning ladies", he joyfully called to the girls who
had come to welcome him.
"We'll help you unloading!" Anne-Christine said, but she
then waited until Gosseling came off the fiacre and greeted
her with a kiss on both cheeks.
"You look wonderful Anne. You must have a little secret on
your mind!" he said. Then looking into Lisabeth's eyes for a
long time.
"You are still impressed by the images from the Crystal,"
he added, as he kissed her, too.
"Yes Govert, you're right," Lisabeth said, "I have some
worries at this moment".
"Not me", Anne-Christine said, as she lifted the big
recorder drum from the fiacre to take it inside.
"It is heavy, for it is loaded with glass plates", the
scientist warned her.
"I guessed so", Anne-Christine said, just being able to
carry it alone. The coachman followed her with the other big
parts of the machinery and soon a vast number of parts was
piled in the hall of the Castle, after which the coachman
left.
"It looks as if something is missing", Gosseling said,
carefully inspecting the pile. "The drum, where is the
drum?"
"It must be underneath!" Anne-Christine suggested. "I
carried it in first, you remember?"
That answer reassured the scientist.
"I'm sorry to be a bit excited, but it has cost me a lot
of work. Those machines are not meant to be portable, and all
along the route, I feared I'd forgotten something."
"We'll have some hot cocoa", said Lisabeth, going to the
kitchen.
"Govert, what do you think of it?" she said later, trying
to make him aware of her dispute with Anne-Christine. "Anne is
planning to take the Glasswork to the Crystal Castle to finish
it off."
"Well", Gosseling replied, "That is a difficult question,
which you shouldn't ask me, really. If possible, I will
prevent the Glasswork from being destroyed. I was looking for
it far too long, after all. But I can understand Anne's point
of view".
"I promised her not to do it too fast. First she may
quietly become a Czarina", Anne-Christine said. "That would be
nice, wouldn't it?"
"I am afraid one doesn't become a Czarina quietly",
Lisabeth put in. "At least there will be a small party".
"I think it is sensible, though", Gosseling said. "The
fate of the Glasswork may wait a little longer, without any
problem".
"So that you can snatch it away from me," Anne-Christine
said laughingly.
"I'll have Ruyters watch the Glasswork, while I'm away".
Anne-Christine said.
"You'll have it buried again?" Lisabeth asked.
"Do you think that will be a clever thing to do? He's
rather old and he may forget once more where he left it".
Anne-Christine answered. "I think it will be better if he
lives in my Castle for a while. That's the best way to keep an
eye on my basket and the rest of my belongings."
"You're too good, Anne", Lisabeth said, "I'm so pleased
with your promise".
"I'm not that good", Anne-Christine disagreed. "I want to
get rid of that Glasswork, the sooner the better, and I just
need your Castle to realise my plan. I don't want to hurry,
for then you may never build it".
"That is honest but not very good", Lisabeth retorted and
she turned her back on Anne-Christine without another
word.
The hour of departure had come. Anne-Christine had ordered
Ruyters to find a coach, which had been loaded with
Gosseling's machinery the previous day. That morning, Ruyters
saddled two riding horses. Gosseling was to drive the coach,
as agreed.
"Keep a close eye on the basket!" were Anne-Christine's
last words to Ruyters, who was very proud that he could live
at the Castle, albeit temporarily, after his long career.
"I'll defend it with my life", the steward said. "And, all
of you, please be very careful."
"We will be", Lisabeth reassured him, as Ruyters helped
her into her saddle. Gosseling bade farewell to the steward
with a polite nod and then skilfully drove both horses down
the lane.
"The drum, has it shown up after all?" Gosseling inquired
uneasily after a few moments. "I can't recall having seen it,
during the loading".
"Don't be so nervous", Anne-Christine answered with a
smile. "It was the first item I put it in the coach. In
Moscow, you'll see it is there."
The journey to the Watershed Inn took more time than
usual.
"A coach is slower than riding a horse", Gosseling said,
relieved that he had arrived at his destination. The two girls
jumped from their saddles and started to unknot their saddle-
bags.
"I know what I'm going to eat here!" Lisabeth said,
enjoying the familiar smell that came from the kitchen.
"I've eaten enough", Lisabeth said after her third dish of
onion soup. "I'll go to bed". She went up the stairs to the
room which she was going to share with Anne-Christine that
night.
"What are you doing with my bag?" Anne-Christine cried.
Having the same idea as Lisabeth, she had followed her soon
after and caught her red handed.
"Oh.... well....nothing. I thought it was my bag and I was
looking to see if I could put another couple of onions in it.
They are cheap today, you know", Lisabeth answered,
blushing.
"Nonsense, you were checking whether I had or hadn't taken
the Glasswork with me after all," Anne-Christine protested
firmly.
"I was", Lisabeth had to confess.
"Well, you see, it isn't there", Anne-Christine said. "And
it doesn't need to be, because I have a better plan. I've got
a small piece of the Muscovite Chandelier with me, which will
enable me to fetch Anne-Lise's Glasswork from her time. Now I
don't have to carry my entire Glasswork with me, for I hate
having too much luggage."
She searched in the purse which she wore at her belt and
fetched from it a piece of Crystal, which she showed Lisabeth
teasingly.
"You really won't do that, will you Anne?" Lisabeth asked
startled. "Is that what you're thinking of?"
"No", Anne-Christine said, handing over the Crystal to
Lisabeth. "You may keep it for me. I know that you won't trust
me during this trip".
"Did you pay Anne-Lise any visits last week?" Anne-
Christine asked Gosseling a few days later, while she was
driving alongside his coach.
"Yes I did, by means of that small piece of Crystal you
sent me. The images from it were very clear and I made the
journey without any major problems," Gosseling answered with a
smile. "I presented myself as 'Baron de Gosselingue' and I
offered to steal the Czar's Glasswork. She had to attract the
public's attention away until I had been able to hide the
entire Glasswork in the Chandelier. I managed to do so but it
has been stolen by an unknown person."
"How unfortunate", Anne-Christine answered, bursting into
laughter. "To me, though, it seems an excellent strategy to
hide a Glasswork in a Chandelier made of the same
material!"
"Except when I'm surrounded by little girls who are much
too wise for their age and tend to follow their own ideas,
without consulting a much older and wiser person!" Gosseling
answered, looking right into Anne-Christine's eyes.
A few days later, the three travellers could on the
horizon the outlines of Moscow, the town which they were going
to enter the next day.
"Are we going to travel a lot?" Anne-Christine asked,
entering the same room she had had the last time. She made a
giant leap onto her bed.
"After the Castle is built, we'll go to the Black Sea by
steam engine", Lisabeth said.
"At least that will be different from that same old
horseback", Anne-Christine puffed, now jumping off her
bed.
"I'll go and see if I can help Gosseling to unload", she
said.
"That's what servants are for", Lisabeth replied. "I just
have to ring and they are ready".
"Then do so", Anne-Christine told her. A laquey appeared
who asked Anne to order explain to him the coach should be
unloaded. Together with Gosseling, they made certain that all
the parts were taken carefully to Gosseling's room.
"Shall I assemble it here, or shall I wait until
Lisabeth's Castle is finished?" the scientist wondered.
"Just wait another day until we know what will happen in
due course", Anne-Christine suggested and Gosseling didn't
disagree.
When she reached her own room, Anne-Christine saw that
Lisabeth had left.
"One of her negotiations with the Czar" she thought and
returned to Gosseling's room to keep him company for a
while.
"Do you still have that piece of the Chandelier with you?"
she asked him directly.
"I'm rather certain of that", the scientist said. "It's in
my bag. Do you want to go to Anne-Lise?"
"Yes", said Anne-Christine. "Lisabeth won't agree, as
usual, but I think that I may do whatever I like".
"Right you are", was the scientist's opinion. "You want to
leave right away?"
"As a matter of fact, I do", Anne-Christine confessed with
bright shining eyes, which made Gosseling suspect a wicked
plan.
"The Glasswork? You are going to fetch the Glasswork!", he
cried.
"Yes Govert, I don't care what Lisabeth's wants. I want to
have my Glasswork with me and, if it isn't my own, then I want
to have Anne-Lise's at least."
Govert Gosseling searched in his belongings for the only
piece of the Muscovite Chandelier that he possessed. He handed
it over to her, together with his prism.
"And you want me to leave, for otherwise you will hear me
breathing, undoubtedly?"
"If you don't mind", Anne-Christine said, feeling guilty.
"I just can't do it in your presence".
"You don't have to", Gosseling said, "I hope you'll have a
good time over there and give them my best regards."
He stood up and went into the garden.
"Where is Anne?" Lisabeth asked when she met Gosseling in
the garden.
"She is travelling to Anne-Lise", Gosseling answered
frankly. "She is in my room, in a trance".
"Oh no, you good-for-nothing!!", Lisabeth cried angrily,
"How long is it since she left? Did she already fetch Anne-
Lise's Glasswork? This will certainly turn out to be a
disaster! You have seen that yourself!"
"You'd better keep quiet", Gosseling said. "Anne-
Christine's relation with Anne-Lise is most cordial. Do you
really think she would loan her great grandmother's Glasswork
to have it destroyed in your Castle?"
"No, that's most improbable", Lisabeth admitted. "She'd
never do a thing like that".
"She just doesn't want to live without it, that's all",
concluded Gosseling.
Lisabeth looked at him in admiration.
"You know everything, don't you?" she said and offered her
arm for a long stroll in the french garden.
"You don't trust one another any more, do you?" Gosseling
asked.
"No, we don't" Lisabth confessed. "It rather turned into a
duel between her Glasswork and my Castle".
"It doesn't need to be a duel", Gosseling countered. "She
could just live with you, once your Castle is finished. You
lived with her for a long time, too, didn't you?"
"I have the same opinion", Lisabeth replied. "But now she
knows that she can get rid of the Glasswork, although it will
cost me my Castle. And she makes no secret of wanting to act
this way once she sees her chance to do so".
"It's her duty, don't forget that", Gosseling soothed.
Lisabeth came closer to him. "I am aware of that, but I
can't come up with a better idea than simply preventing her
from entering my Castle with her Glasswork. Do you have a
better plan?"
"Yes", the scientist said, looking mysteriously at
Lisabeth. "Fingerprints!"
Back in Gosseling's room, they saw Anne-Christine building
a little tower of Muscovite Glasses.
"I guess I don't have to ask you where you've been",
Lisabeth said, looking worried. "Do you also want to know what
I have attained?"
"Please do enlighten me", Anne-Christine answered. "I can
hardly wait until your Castle is finished".
Lisabeth knew exactly what she meant and took a deep
breath.
"Well, I unfolded my plans to the master architect, who
said that he could start right away. There are many standard
parts and if it all turns out as predicted, we'll possess a
nice construction kit on wheels within a few weeks. There
already is a track from Moscow to Transsyldavia and they are
just finishing the last miles to the Black Sea. That is the
most difficult part as it will consist of twenty five
equidistant parallel tracks, which are being measured very
precisely at this very moment".
Gosseling was surprised.
"You aren't wasting your time, Lisa", he said
respectfully.
"Thank you, but what did you mean by saying 'Fingerprints'
in the garden?" Lisabeth asked when they were seated, having
tea.
"There is a new scientific invention, which tells us that
all fingers show diffent curves. The pattern of each finger
differs from the others, as do the patterns of various people.
We can touch nothing without leaving a trace. Sometimes those
traces are hardly visible, but sometimes they are visible. You
can see them most clearly on shining objects, like metal
parts, but also on glass and crystal". he added.
Anne-Christine and Lisabeth started to study their fingers
at once and to hold them close together to compare them.
"They all are different, indeed", they admitted.
"And what is the use of it?" Lisabeth then asked.
"I'll demonstrate that in a few moments" Gosseling said
solemnly. "Do you mind placing your fingers on a ink-pad, so
that we can make a nice print on paper?"
"Then we'll get blue fingers", Anne-Christine
protested.
"There's enough water and soap in this world," Gosseling
replied.
"I dislike the idea", Anne-Christine said, "It certainly
will be one of your malicious plans once more".
"Oh, it won't be water-resistant ink. It won't harm us.
I'll join the party", said Lisabeth. "I want to see such a
print".
"Anne doesn't have to co-operate if she doesn't want to.",
Gosseling said, searching in his bag for an ink-pad and a few
sheets of paper. He placed his necessities on the table and
carefully took Lisabeth's hand and rolled her fingers, one by
one, over the ink-pad and then over the paper.
"How funny!" Lisabeth said, after ten prints had been
taken.
"Don't touch it any more", Gosseling said. "First you have
to wash your hands".
Lisabeth didn't have to walk very far as Gosseling had a
room with a bathroom.
"And now? What will you do next? Or do you intend to stare
at those prints all day long?" she asked when she
returned.
"No", Gosseling declared in a mysterious way. "Now we'll
do something else. You can find those prints on any smooth and
shining objects you have touched. You can visualize them by
this fine powder, which I have here".
He showed her a small metal box, which had a pinpoint hole
at one side. He squeezed it and the box puffed out a little
cloud.
"Please put your hand on this marble table", he proposed
Lisabeth, and she did so.
She had just withdrawn her hand when Gosseling let a cloud
of fine dust land on the table. The print showed up after he
had blown away the surplus.
"Oh, how nice!" Lisabeth exclaimed. "Those are my very own
curves".
She looked for the paper prints to compare them.
"No doubt about it", she said. "They are all there, my
thumb and all my fingers. Gee, how smart you are".
Gosseling seemed to be flattered by these words. He then
asked: "Anne, did Anne-Lise herself give you those
glasses?"
Anne-Christine started to blush.
"So that we can look for her fingerprints?" she asked in a
thin voice.
"Exactly", Gosseling said. "That is the way we can
increase our knowledge of the past".
"I have to disappoint you", she declared firmly. "Anne-
Lise wore long thin gloves, when she handed it over to
me".
"What a pity", Gosseling said, disappointed. "But never
mind, we can still see what we can find on those glasses which
come straight from the past. I can guarantee that Lisabeth's
prints won't be on those glasses, as Lisabeth has never been
to Anne-Lise. She only touched the Glassware that Ruyters is
guarding now."
"That's true", Lisabeth said, enjoying the little item of
theatre which she had rehearsed with him in the garden an hour
earlier.
"We can wait until tomorrow", Anne-Christine said sounding
as uninterested as possible. "It was most entertaining, but
I've become hungry now".