November 1, 1930 -- Letter To Jack Armstrong

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Mailed From London, England
1st November, 1930

Jack,

I am glad to hear that you are well. Your letter of 12 October raises more questions than it answers, but I suppose that is as it should be. May your road never be dull, my friend.

This letter is written in passing from one concern to the next. If it seems scattered, please forgive me and read on, for there is much I must say.

You ask, Jack, for advice and for forgiveness. I grant you both, freely. How could I not? The advice follows here; the forgiveness has always been yours, for you have never been untrue to yourself as I have known you.

I must, however, ask you this question. Will you be a Soldier, Jack? Will you fight, with us, for the future of the world? If the answer is yes, then we must speak very soon. The attorneys in London can tell you where I am at any time. I hope that you will come.

Now let us speak of your letter, and the things written there. Firstly:

I know somewhat of the Armitage, though I have not seen it myself. There are reports at the House of several such forays as yours. None of them, however, have brought forth all that you have. There is no record of any connection between the creature called Ithaqua (your "eethakwa" it seems) and the Chandlers. Can you tell me more of this, or of the thing it fought, or of the boat itself? We do not know much about the Armitage, save that the nature of its awareness is not akin to that of the House, or of the Amun. Any impressions you may have gained are useful, however fragmentary or distorted they may be.

A previous visitor to the Armitage came away with a box of enchanted lenses, which perform interestingly and enigmatically. Perhaps, with your sight and your experience on the vessel, you might make of them something more than I have. Let me know if you are interested in working with them.

Secondly:

I shall pass your warning regarding Mary Tilson to Theo at once. Give me your thoughts in this, however: Do you feel there is some particular reason to believe that she will fall prey to the Dark Man's hand again before Theo can finish his plan? If so, then you -- all of us -- must act at once to ensure that it is not so. Do not misunderstand me, Jack, Theo is capable and I will apprise him of the danger; but Miss Tilson is far too important in other ways to allow her into Spain's hands again, until this business of the assumption of Trujillo's mantle is done. On no account, for no purpose whatsoever, must she be allowed to come into contact with the Dark Man or his lieutenants! Her freedom is in part a sham; they expect her to come, and await her coming, for she is a vital part of their immediate plans.

I will not say more in this letter, but we can speak of it if you like face to face.

Thirdly:

On the matter of Miss Neville, I do not know what to say. She came once to Wisphers, Jack, and in fact was most helpful in retranslating the Prophecy texts. She has seen the Tablets, and read Chase's commentaries and my own; and if she does not see the pattern, or her own face in it, it may be because she does not wish to -- or because it is not there.

If you have spoken to her solely of facts -- of what is known -- then you have done her no disservice. But if you have given her suspicions, guesses, and hopes -- if you have forced knowledge upon her that she did not ask for and did not desire -- then you have indeed wronged her, my friend. Miss Neville is already both an innocent and a victim, trapped by her heritage and her father's, denied a normal life. It is not our place to tear aside what peace remains, but to preserve it! That is one of our oldest and most important tenets, Jack, I hope you understand, and will do all you can to allow her freedom from all of this if she desires.

In that regard, I must say, I do not regard further education of any sort as a solution unless she seeks it out on her own. Like you, I believe that Miss Neville may be a candidate for Aspiration; but if that is true then she will find her way willingly; if she denies it or turns aside, then that is her right. None must deny it, nor force her hand.

Lamont Coleman, it seems, does disapprove of us. He too has been to Wisphers; and it does seem that his mistrust of us stems from that visit. If you can learn the source of his emnity, then do so, for I would like to know. One thing that is very apparent is that he is protective of the woman. Perhaps the two are closely tied, but I cannot say.

Should you decide to protect her, then, do so unobtrusively, and think long and hard about what you would protect her from. She is in no danger from the Outside, only from us and others like us who would tear her out of her already fragile world.

There; that is enough about your letter. Now let me tell you a few things of my own.

Jack, by the time you read this, the House will be closed. I have given instructions for all visitors to be denied entry, save by my personal invitation. Any resident guests, including young Romanov and his staff, have been asked to leave. The villagers continue to work the fields, but the entire valley is now on alert and the House's barriers are fully engaged. They will remain so until the end of the year, or until this business with the Tower is done.

You must be asking why I would do such a thing. I order it for several reasons, not least of which is defense. I fully expect some sort of strike against us in the coming month, the better to distract us from the business in Spain; I will not have the House damaged or destroyed.

There are other reasons too. I ask everyone, as I have asked you, to come to me, to work wholly and actively with me or to walk away; times grow short and we no longer have the luxury of a generous openness to all who might be someday useful. The closure of the House, and of other facilities elsewhere, will cause those casual dilettantes of the Fight to sit up and take notice. Things must change; we are almost out of time.

Julian is well, and sends her love.

Be well, and happy; I pray we will speak soon.

Carl