Soliciting Permission of a Gosling; 18th 5pm

[Hope]

The taproom was raucously busy this Saturday afternoon, Doctor Tutill stood off to the side trying to look as inconspicuous as possible; dressed in brown tweed jacket with fawn breeches, his satchel hanging at his side slung by a broad leather strap that crossed his body diagonally. He clasped has hat in one hand, and wondered how much longer Master Gosling might be.

He'd left a message with the proprietor of the Inn that he was waiting, that had been an hour ago, it felt more like eight.

[William Gosling]

Unfortunately for the good Doctor, William had not been in the Inn or his room since early that morning. Luckily for the good Doctor, though, William had need of dropping his notes and papers off before going to see Heather, so after the proprietor had told him he had a visitor, he went to his room and dropped off the tisane and papers. He then headed down to the taproom. He hoped this didn't take terribly long, he had only intended it to be a brief stop off. He entered and realized he had no idea exactly who he was looking for. He carefully scanned the room to see if anyone recognized him, his next resort to be to have the proprietor point him in the man's direction.

[Hope]

Generally the room was arranged in groups of revellers - and yet there were the odd loner that William might choose from:

There was the fellow brown tweed jacket with a satchel, not drinking and leant against the wall.
There was the whispy haired man in the fireplace chair, who snored.
And then there was a crisp clothed merchant who sat with his hat reserving the chair next to him, drumming his fingers on the table.

[William Gosling]

William looked over the three choices. Well, he decided, it would be best to take a guess. The proprietor had told him it was Doctor Tutill so the man who fit the description of a merchant was not the best prospect. And he would prefer not to rouse the sleeping man until he had exhausted the other two. With the other two, after all, they would just say no if they were not the man he was looking for, but the sleeping man might be angered by his being roused from his slumber. So he walked towards the man dressed in brown with the satchel and tipped his hat, "Excuse me, a Doctor Tutill is apparently looking for me. Would you happen to be him?" If not, next up was the merchant, and William glanced over at him to see if the seat with the hat on it had been taken.

[Hope]

"Excellent." Tutill was grateful for the man's arrival, and extended his hand to gustily shake, "I am he, Dr Charles Tutill, and you must be Master William Gosling, son of the Baroness of Wealdmore?"

[William Gosling]

William took the man's hand and shook it. He found it most curious that he mentioned his mother rather than his father, which put him quietly on guard though he let no trace escape into his voice. "I am heir to the Barony of Wealdmore, yes."

[Hope]

"Excellent." He was pleased to have found the right man. With a pause he wondered if he out ask to speak in a discreet locale, though thought better of that, he had a sense that he was already pressing upon the mans time. "Master Gosling, I am midway through my thesis studying disorders that work down families, my research has brought me to your family and one other, the Howards. I hope that AI have more luck with you than I did with them. Please, I wish to run a series of tests upon the seemingly unaffected, I am in belief that I have a fail safe method of divining if imminent affliction is awaiting in the wings."

[William Gosling]

William was not surprised the man was turned down so. In fact, he was surprised he had been tolerated at all by a family so powerful as the Howards. Mental illness had a massive stigma and being sent to Bedlam was something few would fancy. “My main concern in this would be the stigma that might be attached to even getting tested for such things, the fact enemies might use it against me, that sort of thing. I suppose that's why others turned you down but I will give you a chance to answer those fears. And I would suggest we quit to a more private locale.” The man was pressing upon his time, but accusations of disorders were to be feared more than being late.

[Hope]

"Ah, yes of course." Tutill replied, and moved with the heir to a barony (if not madness too) to a location of his choice.

"I can assure you of my utmost discretion, and when my findings are published I shall have your name blacked out, although you understand that in the interests of allowing my peers a cross examination I need to provide the college with full details."

[William Gosling]

William nodded and led the man out of the Inn’s public spaces and up to his room. That was private and not wholly unusual if the two had business to discuss. After all, it was his substitute for a home and people entertained guests in their homes all the time. He drew up the chair for the writing table to the fireplace and let Dr. Tutill sit in the more comfortable of the two.

When the man explained the steps meant to protect his identity, William wasn’t too impressed, “Ah, but college records can be accessed, and there’s no saying members might not have their own agendas. But which college would that be, regardless?” He thought for a moment, “Is my identity really necessary? I mean, why would a pseudonym not do?”

[Hope]

On the second floor; The second room: The floor was covered with a honey coloured woollen carpet of English manufacture, a comfortable chair sat in front of the fireplace, and above the mantelpiece a mirror hung. A wardrobe stood against one wall and a small writing table and chair against the another.

The room was dominated by the canopied bed dressed in fine crewel work linen depicting St. George conquering the dragon..

There is a small door, kept locked, which goes through to another room room which has it's own access out onto the hall.

A near invisible door near the wardrobe opens to a staircase to a loft room in for his servant.

Tutill entered the room with a reserve natural to such a situation. "Pleasant." he commented mildly, and accepted the seat with a courteous smile. Unslinging his satchel, he set it upon the floor. "Oxford of course." he replied with the calm confidence of one assured of the quality of their education. "Ah, and I understand that you are concerned. Perhaps there is some compromise we can make. But I must supply details of my sources of information to a reputable fellow, or else my work might be accused of being fiction. Who would you recommend?"

[William Gosling]

"You never know, occasionally Cambridge has the temerity to call itself a University." William, being an Oxford graduate himself, would never pass up an opportunity to take a shot at his University's rival. William almost said 'the Archbishop of Canterbury' for dead men kept secrets well but decided it was in poor taste. "Does your fellow need to be from a particular college? If not, Lewis Stone might do. He's old and on track to become an emeritus." That is, to retire. "So no burning ambitions that he might use this for. He's not political, either, just interested in his tinkerings and texts." And he and William got along grandly besides. He also had one foot in the grave.

"Perhaps I could send him a missive saying that I indeed took the test, and my actual name could stay out of the report? With his backing it would be hard to accuse it of being fiction, yet without my name in the text it would be hard to turn it against me." And if it wasn't in the text, William could deny it later and without written evidence it was actually him it would not stick well.

OOC: Completely made up person.

[Hope]

"Ah yes, I've heard of the Dean, Lewis Stone, he has a good reputation besides." Tutill nodded seriously in approval of the suggestion. To be honest he was elated at that moment, but scholarly men hardly whooped for joy. At last he had a noteworthy subject!

Snatching up his satchel he begun unbuckling it, "I'll just need you to sign these permission slips, and the legal waivers of course." he mumbled to himself as he fingered through a collection of sheets, before finally coming upon what he needed. "Triplicate of course, one copy for you, one for me, and one for the College. Have you ink and quill? If you can sign here, here, and, here let me change that date, yes, and initial just above that."

Despite his efforts to restrain his enthusiasm, the quickness of his speech and sharpness of his moments revealed that young Doctor Charles Tutill was eager to sign him up forthwith, not even thinking to read William through the document he was asked to sign.

[William Gosling]

William nodded, and he went over to the desk to get ink and quill. He gave the man the pen so he could change the date, but didn’t quite sign yet. He did want to read over them first, and he was far too cautious to sign anything put in front of him. “Hold a moment.” He said to Dr. Tutill and began to look over the papers. Presuming there was nothing objectionable, that they were simply the standard forms Dr. Tutill claimed they were, he then signed and initialed as necessary, in triplicate.

The man was excited about this, it seemed. Well, William supposed the man might have his reputation made by this. William, for his part, was interested in what the test said. He didn’t believe in it wholly, but it would be nice to know whether he would go insane eventually. After all, insanity would be something of an inconvenience. And on a darker note, if he got to know the man well then having an expert on insanity in one’s pocket could be very helpful for getting certain annoying persons sent to Bedlam…

Regardless, he waited for Tutill to begin the next step.

[Hope]

Tutill found some patience, and sat quietly while William read through the forms. They covered the basics such as giving his consent to the tests of his own free will and without coercion, and on the understanding that while Tutill was of Oxford University, the University itself held no accountability for the methods employed in the independent studies - while the findings of the study were gathered for the advancement of understanding, and might be used as teaching materials at the University in the future - the findings themselves would remain the property Dr Charles Tutill.

"Excellent." Tutill blew upon the drying ink, and laid the pages out individually for a while. "We can begin in earnest on Monday. The first tests involve provocation, and shall be done via my observation. You shant feel a thing. But for a starters I need to take down your vital statistics..."

He took out a fresh sheet of paper, and after rechecking the sharpness of the quill, gave a swift smile to William before beginning. To each question he asked, he then jotted down Williams answer. "Name in full, and date of birth? Your fathers name? Your Mothers name? Their respective ages when they were married? Any prior marriages for either? Her age when you were born? And how many brothers and sisters have you, and which number child were you? Your height and eye colour? Your waist measurement?"

[William Gosling]

“When should I expect you on Monday?” William was curious about exactly what the provocation would be, particularly because he had been assured he wouldn’t feel a thing. He hadn’t expected even the possibility of the test being painful. Still, he supposed he could back out if the man, say, tried to put him under a knife.

“My full name is simply William Gosling,” William’s family had never quite embraced all their peer’s naming conventions. Family members were not named after ancestors in a way that would lead to a William Gosling II, for example. But he did think it odd for Tutill to ask after they had just gone through that bit about leaving his identity secret, “And I was born 13th of February 1653. My parents are Zachary and Isabel Gosling. My father was fifty three and my mother was nineteen when the connection was made.” One of the joys of political marriages: vast gaps in age.

“Neither had a previous marriage. I have no siblings, and so am the first. My mother was…” William had to think on this one, “the age of twenty when I was born. I am about five foot ten inch, though the measurement isn’t wholly recent. I have blue eyes.” Couldn’t the man just see that one himself? “And my waist is thirty two inches, or it was when I left for Italy.”

[Hope]

"Ah, I shall find you, lets not worry about making an appointment. I think we shall get mroe natural results to the tests this way." the man reassured.

"Good good good." he uttered as he noted these details down, "And so, and I appologise in advance for the delicacy of this question, but what caused the lack of your mothers becomming with child following your birth? And did her own mother have only one child. I am looking for patterns you see."

[William Gosling]

William nodded a bit slowly, that sounded fair enough. He then responded to the man's questions, "My maternal grandmother had more than one child, yes. As to why my mother hasn't had child since, the seed was not planted within her again. This effectively rendered her giving birth impossible, as I'm sure you know." He added, "To be honest, I think that was less a trait of hers prior to insanity and more that insane people do not make a good prospect for... encounters, even with their spouse."

[Hope]

"M-hmm...." Tutill fell silent a minute or two as he wrote further notes. He tried to work quickly, for he was conscious that William might have other engagements. Finally he intoned, "Good good... well I think that is enough for now." he re-corked the inkwell and dried off the quill upon a scrap of cotton he carried in his pocket. "I must say Master Gosling, It is awfully good of you to assist like this." He begun with collected the signed forms, now well dry, first. "We Oxford men stick together eh?" these last words were said with a display of jocularity.

Till finally he stood, with all his pieces of paper neatly stored away in his satchel again. "Thank you for your time sir." he extended his hand to shake.

[William Gosling]

“In truth, I am most interested in this. Had I not feared for my family’s reputation I would have agreed immediately. After all, it informs me about myself, it may yet help my mother, and it contributes to the general advancement of knowledge. And Oxford, as well.” William smiled at the man’s comment, “Indeed.”

William extended his hand as well and they shook, “You know where you can find me if you have anything else to ask. Have a good day.” He waited for the man to leave, as the door was too close for him to need to be escorted to it and he would have to gather some things before departing himself. Such as the tisane which still sat on the desk.

He wondered just what Monday would bring…

[Hope]

~ Fin!

*bounces*