Chance Meeting

Chance meeting and odd meeting with someone I had nearly forgotten about – the gentleman scholar I had met the previous year, M. Grenville. The man seems struck by the same wanderlust as I, though his seems more in the way of digging up stones and picking at bricks in old ruins. I offered him and his companions shelter for the night, but though his companions seemed to want to rest, he seemed eager to be on his way and kept speaking of a Great Discovery that was within his reach, if his efforts proved true. His manner – while not hostile, and I'm certain he meant no rudeness or insult by it – was rather unsettling, and seemed to have an urgency about him – not of one fleeing something, but chasing something. In an attempt to calm him, I asked if he still played his piano, and he seemed confused for a moment, as if he had quite forgotten it existed, then shook his head, as if the memory was unwelcome, a distraction. I hope he finds what he seeks, though I fear what he might stir up in the Brightwood if he does not take care to slow his pace. - Renée Marie Cartier