The Time-Traveler’s Assistant is a mix of East and West, designed originally for a client who wanted reminders of her eastern home along with elements of steampunk curiosity and intrigue, it is the story of a young woman embarking on a journey in 1899 with feelings of apprehension, wonder, excitement and possible love.
It is VERY close to being my favouritist of all my journals, definitely in the top 3 – i just can’t choose!
The fake passport and the embroidered envelope that you will see in the journal are available as downloads in the shop.
You can view the youtube video here:[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGL_J89gIGE[/embedyt]
Dear Miss Dalton,
please forgive the peculiar nature of this letter and may I offer from the outset my first advice of the duration: to make yourself alone as you continue reading, as the following may appear at first sight, a most irregular and unconventional proposal, but rest assured, whatever your feeling towards what I have laid out here, if you wish it, you will never hear from me again after this, and my life being what it is, the likelihood of us ever meeting again is so slim as to be surely impossible and you may forget me without a second thought.
At the time of my writing, it has been 4 weeks since our chance meeting on the deck of the Valiant. I felt that there existed some natural ease between us, and you may agree in your thus far short life that once in every while we may become acquainted with an individual or indeed some book or writer with whom we may have a more natural comfort. Our meeting was, at least for me, one of these occurrences and I recall leaving you on the deck of that swaying ship thinking that you were a young woman that would somehow, despite the obvious difficulties and challenges that life has heaped upon you, be able to overcome them and emerge whole the other side, and this confidence in your ability is what has moved me to seek you out once more.
Before continuing further, I may beg of you to not judge my story by the strange chapter you have entered in upon, for much has already occurred that I cannot share with you. And indeed, if you decide you will share this story, there are many pages coming that will remain hidden from you, and others about which I will rely heavily on your discretion.
Miss Dalton – Louisa, I will call you from the start, forgive my forwardness but if you accept the terms my offer, then you must also the familial terms of our would-be relationship. I must assure you that at our previous meeting, I had no underlying motive, and if nothing else you may take that away from this correspondence, whatever your decision will be, that our first chance encounter should remain a pleasant memory and a completely innocent event in time. I am a man of science, and I do not believe in fate. I do however believe and trust in the Higher forces of our universe and although 4 weeks ago at our meeting I did not think it anything more than chance, I find myself now of the belief that there can be only one sensible outcome and that powers greater than ourselves provided that meeting and the great opportunity that was presented to both of us. For since disembarking the next morning, a seed of an idea has presented itself to me, and the more I dismiss it and bring my mind to concentrate on my work and affairs, the more I find I cannot continue unless the matter be resolved. Let me give you the details of my idea and proposal, for I can imagine the perplexity I am thus far causing you.
I am in dire need of an assistant in my work, and if I am honest, in my life outside of work, such as it is, and presently only consisting of the time it takes to sleep and eat a meal. I must assure you of only pure interest in our relationship, and you may carry out your duties in the assurance that I will not ask of you any more than your sensibilities will allow and on a moral basis, you may be confident that all is sound and wholesome. Your assistant’s post is a traveling one. My work takes me from one place to another around the globe, and you, if you accept this proposal, will be required to accompany me for much, but not all of the time. This is where perhaps your convention and morality may be alarmed and urge you to rebuff me but please I beg, hear me out to the end.
I am a widower. Two years ago my wife was taken from me together with our young son, for the loss of whom our language has no such title, and the grief of which cannot be put into words. Up to that time I was a very ordinary man, I lived, I worked, I tended my family. Shortly previous to this tragedy, I found myself the unhappy recipient of a very two-sided gift, bestowed on me by the universe in its wisdom, evidently having some reason for choosing me to which I am not yet privy. It brought me to a place both teetering on the brink of greatness, while at the same time, crushed by the great and overwhelming cloud of doubt and uncertainty that possession of this gift has brought with it. And the decisions I made during this time continue to impact my life today. My work at this point took an unexpected turn that I could never have anticipated, and through no particular design of my own. This new discovery – this new knowledge – was thrust upon me and I cannot help but feel that I am its guardian now. It was at this time that Marianne and Thomas were taken from me. Now, my work is my only solace, and my immersion in it takes every ounce of my strength and mind, of this you may be assured, and I have no strength for motives or new pursuits that would affect you. You will travel as my younger sister and ward. The familial connection will satisfy any social moralities that may be perceived by others.
It is no exaggeration to say that I cannot forget what happened on that ship, for it haunts my every waking moment since we parted, and brings me to conclude that our meeting was not by chance. Being accustomed to travel, I have found that a rough sea is a good assurance of an uninterrupted stroll upon the deck and I have come to relish the bracing nature of such an opportunity and the freedom it provides for clear thought and contemplation. No doubt the same feelings were upon you that day, and I was much surprised as I emerged at the top deck to see a young woman there staring out at the sea. As I told you that day, the only reason I intruded on your privacy was for thinking you must be ill, and yet despite the sea and the rain upon you, the tears were altogether apparent, and I felt I must stay with you awhile, at least to assure myself that your sadness together with the rough sea would not present itself to you in some convenient and tragic match. Perhaps my alarm, though I tried to hide it, was manifest to you and you became warmed to a stranger’s kindness and concern, and allowed me to talk with you awhile. And as we talked I learned of your returning home to England and that things with your uncle were not what you had thought, your expectations for your future having been brought to nothing, of which feeling I am no stranger myself. Louisa, your acceptance of your new circumstances brought me to admire you greatly, not least that moment when you gripped the rail with such determination that the Bard himself could not have comprehended the power his words would have as you shouted them out to the winds “Let every man be master of his time!” and how in that very moment your hat was snatched away on the wind, it seemed to me that life itself were sealing some contract with you. You cannot know the extent to which your words have effected me. No doubt, your uncle’s sudden death and your new circumstances had made your mind uneasy, and that this cry was out of character I have no doubt, do not be embarrassed, it has endeared me to you and to your humanity. View it not as an encounter with a stranger but as a moment shared with a close friend. We may bypass the normal conventions of relationship and skip ahead in time to having known each other for years, and I hope, as a kind older brother would be viewed. Perhaps I can pay back in kind and use Mr. Shakespeare for my own purposes, for I see that the folk of Athens are out in force on the street where I am currently staying, and the embarrassment of the act I am about to perform will hopefully alleviate any that you feel. I have left my desk momentarily to throw open the shutters of my balcony window and shout at the top of my voice “Reputation is an idle and false imposition; oft got without merit, and lost without deserving!” … I hear the landlord’s footsteps in the hall. I had to blame drunkenness and the being overcome by, I told him, a recent funeral, as your poor uncle’s was evidently on my mind, I hope you will forgive my borrowing him so recklessly. The landlord asks that I leave in the morning, which you will come to know, is not a rare occurrence and on this occasion, can be brought to suit me very well. But to return to the point, reputation in our world Louisa, bears its cost and often is misplaced. Let us make our own reputation, and where society may frown and scorn, you will know in your heart that our conduct is pure and moral and in God’s eyes, do nothing wrong.
I have given much careful thought to offering you this post, and all that holds me back in the end, is the thought that I may deprive you of a normal life. I cannot though help but think that you were not made for such, and that you will benefit and gain a great deal more than anything you may lose to convention I am greatly assured. My work is science, and it is private. As we travel together, I will leave you and travel alone for some days at a time, and your duties during these times alone will be largely of a housekeeping nature. Some clothing repair, you will keep my books and accounts, there will be some researches from time to time that you may assist me with, some purchasing and acquisitioning of materials if our location allows, and if it does not, you will need to devote some time to further your language skills – I overheard you the following morning as I departed the ship talking to the steward, your natural aptitude is a further point in your favour. When I am present we may dine together, and while I am not, you may live as you please. Also required will be some trading and bookkeeping for we must raise funds for the purchase of tickets and transport, and temporary lodgings. Financially, you will have no worries. My present habit is the trading of commodities from different countries and localities, enough to fund my next journey, you must take charge of this task and I have no doubt you will find it easy to make as much as we need and if you want to raise more than this for your own purposes, I would not stop you, you will have plenty of time alone, and how you spend it, past the duties I will lay out, is entirely for you to decide. As my assistant you will be required to make no personal attachments to the people you meet, to give no personal details under any circumstances, to work fast when needed, always to be ready to pack and leave quickly, for winds and weather patterns change unpredictably and without warning, we must go where the wind goes, and at his bidding.
My privacy is of unaccountable importance, and I will not abide questioning lest a matter impacts on you personally; my work is my own. Your presence will afford me much freedom to pursue my work without distraction of the peripheral matters I have listed. Your two greatest duties and my greatest needs are firstly of a medical nature, that oft my travels will bring to surface a rare medical condition of great severity and I will be in need of a kind and capable nurse for usually 2 or 3 days before it passes and I am restored to normal health. During these times I will rely on you heavily to keep strangers away and tell whatever tales you need to to guard my privacy. On one occasion my condition became so severe as to affect my heart and by supreme chance the landlady of my lodgings at the time found me and was able to fetch a doctor in time before I gave out. I believe that if I had a nurse present it would not become so severe again, and if you accept this post I would give you detailed instructions on how to manage pain and fever and the medicines and compounds to administer. Needless to say such conditions will call for you to have a cool and sensible head upon your shoulders, and a strong stomach, to which your possession of both virtues I have already been witness, and which is why I am of the firm belief that you are the only person I may call on in my acquaintance to handle this duty effectively, along with other qualities I observed in you at our short meeting, not least your loyalty to your late uncle and your resourcefulness. Louisa, rather than go back to a dreary life in Canterbury where you are alone and tending an empty house, would you not rather travel the world and live the life you have only seen in your imagination? To see the places I know you have read about, to travel exotic trails, to gain knowledge and make things possible that would otherwise seem like fairy tales? Leave aside judgement, and open up your future. That you have no remaining family gives me greater confidence of doing right, that you will have no fear of offending those whom you love, there are none you should think of now but yourself and the great opportunity you will miss if you care not for my idea.
I have given some thought to the manner in which we should travel together, although until I have your answer the finer details are superfluous and we will work these out in time. But for now, there are certain things you must know and accept, and if you are to join me as proposed, you must travel from the outset conforming to the following details. From time to time the need will arise that I should have some story or explanation to hand that should explain my presence at some unusual place to the satisfaction of others, so I will use some tale or embellishment that explains unusual behaviour (a recent or impending funeral is often a good stock, and in western lands raises the need for you to wear black most of the time, which I hope will not discourage you too much.) We must assume first names of an international nature, so we will be Alexander and Anna, these will not change. The assuming of a sibling identity will give us much freedom, both in your tending my illness, in our traveling together without impropriety and in being on first name terms, for this will be a very valuable asset. Our second names will change often, but to address each other by our Christian names will give us a natural comfort and dismiss the need to constantly remember which names we are traveling under, when we must think quickly. To address me as Alex, or to others, ‘my brother’ will be more natural and of less risk until thoughts can be gathered and second names recalled. Our story is that we are traveling to meet my new employer and secure a new home, we are meeting him at such and such a place in the morning, and any further delays to our stay are excused by his not yet having arrived for reasons we know not, so we are obliged to wait some reasonable time. We will always carry letters and telegrams from various relatives and from this said employer to corroborate our story, and you are required as part of your duties to forward new letters and grams to our next destination, each time we stop and commit to memory the details of all of these, and to learn to tell a tale without embarrassment or hesitation, for it must appear to be truth and innocence itself.
Enclosed in your parcel is a ticket to London for the start of your journey. You will need to visit a Mr Jameson of Bowes, he will expect you and will have waiting, 3 passports, all for you under different names and while you are there, will take your photograph also. If you do decide to join me, Mr Jameson will give you funds for your journey to Hannover. Travel under Charpentier, since your French is already evident. It will help our cause greatly to be as discreet as you can and to draw as little attention as possible. From there you will take the first long distance train going east on the morning of July 12th. I will find you somewhere on this 4 day journey. And remember to act pleased when we meet, as you would with an older brother. Which brings me to your second most important duty, a service that will afford me great gain, and at no cost to you, indeed, I hope that you may even come to enjoy this aspect of your new work. It is to do a little acting, the making of a scene, perhaps a distraction—the fainting of European ladies seems to be a much expected practice, and this will oft be enough to give me the few moments I need to execute my next move.
And that is all that I need to say right now. Forgive my long letter and the manners I have bypassed, if you can look past the lack of convention and see instead the opportunity it opens for you, I believe you will not regret leaving England behind. In the words of Antonio, “what is past is prologue.” Let us live the rest of the story knowing that life must be embraced and that we have thrown open our arms to the wind and the sea and called on it to bring what it may, write more pages and chapters and see if it does not lead to wonderful adventures. Time waits for no man, seize your day, Louisa. It is my sincere hope that you will take this journey. I can barely contain my delight at the thought of seeing you again, and to have such an interesting and amiable traveling companion will be a much welcome change. Enclosed with your letter you have of course already found the journal I am sending you. It caught my eye on a recent stay in Siam. Please accept it as a gift, whatever you decide. I hope that you will find it a useful place to store your thoughts, and if next month, I find that after considering the matter carefully, as I am sure that you will, you decide after all not to take that train, I will understand entirely and feel no offense, only a little sadness that our friendship will not be renewed. But when you use the journal, please think of me from time to time, and who can know? Perhaps one day fate shall prove me a liar and we will meet again – I can already picture it many years from now, perhaps it will be on board another ship, and when I find you again, I shall ask you what you wrote.