‘Neither was the king. The story says he thought long and hard, but in the end, he too said no. Again, in silence, she picked up the books and departed.’
Unprompted by me, King Murdoch regally dispatched an officer to follow her and report back. I gave him a look. He grinned back at me. Now I knew how the Boss felt sometimes.
Mrs De Winter was smiling and shaking her head.
I took up the tale.
‘Again, the soldier returned to say that once outside, she burned three of the books and now only three remained. The king,’ I said, pointedly, ‘said nothing.
‘On the third day, she comes back with just the three remaining books, which again she lays at the king’s feet and offers to sell them to him. ‘How much?’ says the king, knowing the answer. She tells him the price. The king looks at the three remaining books. This time, the chamber is completely silent. As always, the old woman says nothing. She doesn’t need to. If he refuses she’ll burn the last three books and no one will ever see her again. Well, Mr Murdoch. This is the only chance you will ever have.’
The words resonated strangely. I turned to look at Mrs De Winter. She smiled slightly. I dragged my attention back to King Dave. ‘What will you do?’
We all looked at him. He rubbed the back of his neck and looked doubtfully at me. You’d have thought there really were three books on the floor and the future of his kingdom depended on his answer.
‘Yes,’ he said loudly. ‘I’ll buy them.’ We were all so caught up in the drama he actually got a round of applause. I clapped him on the shoulder. ‘Thanks, Dave. You were brilliant. It’s OK to sit down now.’
‘Oh no, no, no, I want to know what’s in the books. After all, I paid for them.’
‘Well, the three books were taken to the deepest part of the vault beneath the Temple of Jupiter and there examined by the wisest men in the kingdom. They contained not prophecies as many have thought, but the religious observances necessary to avert great catastrophes. They were so important to the Romans that ten and later fifteen citizens were appointed to safeguard them and these citizens had no other purpose than to ensure no harm came to these books.
‘Rome, as we know, conquered Italy and then spread out across the known world. The books were known as the Sibylline Books after their former owner, the old woman, the Sibyl. It was said that whatever crisis faced Rome, help and advice could be found within the three books of the Sibylline. They were one of the Empire’s greatest treasures – guarded night and day to prevent them falling into the wrong hands. In the end, the books were only lost because Stilicho ordered their destruction when Alaric and his barbarians were at the gates. You can’t help but think – if that’s what three books could do, what could they have achieved with all nine?’
Polly Perkins stood up. ‘Are you saying we could go back and rescue the six Sibylline Books?’
‘We could indeed, Miss Perkins, but wouldn’t it be better to go back and rescue all nine of them?’
‘But they kept the last three.’
‘But they were still destroyed in the end. It’s just a case of choosing the right moment.’
An electric current ran round the hall.
Mrs De Winter was laughing.
‘And not just that. If you stop and think for a moment there are many examples of lost treasures down the ages. The Great Library at Alexandria, which supposedly held a copy of every book in the known world, went up in flames no less than three times. Who can imagine what was lost? Rome itself burned under the Emperor Nero. St Paul’s in the Great Fire of London in 1666. The possibilities are almost endless.’
Someone said, ‘But, how could we do all this? With respect, Max, there’s only the three of you. Is this instead of, or as well as our Thirsk work?’
This was the opportunity I had been waiting for. I glanced at the Boss and he nodded slightly.
‘Well, think about it for a moment. There aren’t just the three of us, are there? There are at least eleven historians in this unit.’ They didn’t get it to begin with and then heads began to turn towards the back rows where our eight trainees were sitting with the traditional trainee expressions of exhaustion, confusion, and terror.
I jumped in with both feet.