Page 2 (1/2)

"Yes, I’ al to cut this short"

Lucy had ion of her stomach "Paul!"

"I know, I can feel it myself Bloody hell… We must run if we don’t want to fall into the middle of the river" He seized her ar care not to turn his face toward the coach

"You’re really supposed to have died in your native land from the effects of a severe attack of influenza," they heard the otheras they slunk past the coach "But since my earlier visits to you ultimately led to your presence here in London today, and it so happens that you are enjoying the best of health, the equilibrium of a rather sensitive state of affairs is now unbalanced Correct as I a hand"

Paul was concentrating on the queasy feeling inside hi out how far it still was to the bank, but all the sanificance of those words seeped into his ed hi into a run herself "We have only a few seconds left!"

Feeling weak at the knees, Paul started off again, and as he ran and the nearby bank began to blur before his eyes, he heard a terrible if asp of "you devil!" And then all was deathly quiet

Today, at 1500 hours, Lucy and Paul were sent to elapse to the year 1948 When they returned at 1900 hours, they landed in the rose bed outside theof the Dragon Hall, wearing early seventeenth-century costume and drenched to the skin

They see wildly, and therefore, ainst their will, I informed Lord Montrose and Falk de Villiers However, there turned out to be a simple explanation for the whole affair Lord Montrose said he still had a vivid recollection of the fancy-dress party held in the garden here in 1948, during which several guests, evidently including Lucy and Paul, had unfortunately landed in the goldfish pool after the excessive consumption of alcohol

Lord Montrose had taken responsibility for this incident and promised to replace the two rosebushes they had ruined, "Ferdinand Pichard" and "Mrs John Laing" Lucy and Paul were strictly instructed to abstain froes in future, no matter what the period

FROM THE ANNALS OF THE GUARDIANS

18 DECEMBER 1992

REPORT: J MOUNTJOY, ADEPT 2ND DEGREE

ONE

"YOUNG PEOPLE, this is a church! No kissing allowed here!"

Startled, I openedto see sonantly toward , all set to deliver a stern lecture But it wasn’t the priest of this parish church who had disturbed our kiss It wasn’t a hu in the pew right next to the confessional, as surprised to see h that was hardly possible Because basically my state of mind couldn’t be called ht had switched off entirely

It had all begun with that kiss

Gideon de Villiers had kissed me--me, Gwyneth Shepherd

Of course I should have wondered why the idea came into his head so suddenly--in a confessional in a church soravia in the year 1912--just after we’d been running full tilt in headlong flight, and th dress with its silly sailor collar kept getting in the way

I could have made analytical co to work out just why Gideon did it so ht also have stopped to remember that there was a wall between us, and a confessionalthrough which Gideon had squeezed his head and ar Quite apart from the fact that I could do without any o that I’d inherited ene

The fact was, however, that I hadn’t been thinking anything at all, except maybe oh and hmm and more!

That’s why I hadn’t noticed the flip-flop sensation inside oyle folded his arms and flashed his eyes at me from his pew, only when I saw the confessional curtain--brown, although it had been green velvet a o--did I work it out that meanwhile we’d traveled back to the present

"Hell!" Gideon moved back to his side of the confessional and rubbed the back of his head

Hell? I caoyle

"Oh, I didn’t think it was that bad," I said, trying to sound as casual as possible Unfortunately, I was rather breathless, which tended to spoil the effect I couldn’t look Gideon in the eye, so instead I kept staring at the brown polyester curtain in the confessional

Good heavens! I’d traveled nearly a hundred years through ti because that kiss had so totally and absolutely … well, surprisedaway at you, the next you’re in the et away from men armed with pistols, and suddenly--like, out of nowhere--he’s telling you you’re so you And, , could Gideon kiss! I instantly felt green with jealousy of all the girls he’d learnt to do it with