Rowena fell for the _Yore_ hook, line, and sinker. Not even the modern
interior gave her pause. Those objects which happened to be beyond her
ken--and there were many of them--she interpreted as "appointments
befitting a noble knight," and as for the rooms themselves, she merely
identified them with the rooms out of her own experience that they
most closely resembled. Thus the rec-hall became "the banquet hall,"
the supply room became "the kitchen," the control room became "the
sorcerer's tower," the tourist compartments became "the sleeping
tower," Mallory's bedroom-office became "the lord's quarters," the
lavatory became "the chapel," and the generator room became "the
dungeon." Only two things disconcerted her: the absence of servants
and the fact that Easy Money was stabled in the banquet hall. Mallory
got around the first by telling her that he had given the servants a
leave of absence, and she herself got around the second by declaring
it to be no more than fitting for such a splendid steed to be accorded
special treatment. Certainly, Mallory reflected, she was nothing if
she was not co-operative.
After showing her around he wasted no time in getting down to the
business on hand, and stepping into the control room, he punched out
the data necessary to take the _Yore_ back to 7:15 p.m. of the same
day, and to re-materialize it one half mile west of its present
position, as an overlap was bound to occur. There was a barely
noticeable tremor as the transition took place, and simultaneously the
darkness showing on the control-room telewindow transmuted to dusk.
Turning away from the jump board, he saw Rowena regarding him with
large eyes from the doorway. "We're now back to a point in time that
precedes the theft of the Sangraal," he told her, "and we're relocated
farther down the valley. But don't let it throw you. None other than
Merlin himself built the magic apparatus you see before you in this
room, and you know yourself that once he makes up his mind to it,
Merlin can do anything."
She blinked once, but evinced no other signs of surprise. "Yea, fair
sir," she said, "I am ware of the magic of Merlin."
"However," Mallory went on, "magic such as this isn't something for a
gentlewoman such as yourself to fool around with, so I must forbid you
to enter this room during my absence from the castle. Also, while
we're on the subject, I must also forbid you to leave the castle
during my absence. Merlin would be upset no end if there were two
damosels that hight Rowena gallivanting around the countryside at the
same time."
She blinked again. "By my troth, fair sir," she said, "I would lever
die than disobey thy two commands." And then, "Have ye ate any meat
late?"