The Confusion

"How so?"

"This is really a matter of derivatives, is it not?"

"Financial derivatives?"

"No, mathematical ones! For any quantity—say, position—there is a derivative, representing its rate of change. As I see it, England's stock of land represents a fixed quantity of wealth. But commerce I see as a derivative—it is the slope, the speed, the rate of change of the nation's wealth. When commerce stagnates, this rate of change is small, and money founded upon it is worthless. Hence the lopsided exchange rate you told me of. But when commerce thrives, all goes into rapid movement, the derivative jumps up, and money founded on it becomes of much greater value. Once Newton goes to work at the Mint, the supply of coin in England can only improve. Commerce, which has been frozen for lack of money, will surge, at least briefly. The exchange rate between these two currencies will swing the opposite way, long enough at least for me to take a profit."

"It is a way of looking at the thing I had not considered before," said Daniel, "and it sounds right to me. But if you ever have an opportunity to expound your theory to Isaac, I hope you'll use the word fluxion in place of derivative."

"What's a fluxion?"

"That," said Daniel, "is the problem in a nutshell."

MARCH 1696

"I DO HOPE YOU'LL RECONSIDER, now, all of the unpleasant things you have had to say in the past about Satan." This was how A

Father Édouard de Gex looked up at a black sky, framed in the aperture of his coffin. It was an uncommonly plush model, for a Jesuit. The brothers of his order had loaded him at first into a Spartan pine-plank box. But Madame la duchesse and her entourage had appeared just in time, and put a stop to it. "Imitation of Christ is all well and good during life, but my cousin is in Heaven now, and nothing prevents me from treating his earthly remains with decent respect; besides, I must accompany him all the way home, and I'd have the casket well sealed." And she had caused to be brought in to the sick-room a coffin so heavy it took four men to lift it: a coffin of oak, lined with lead, and cushioned better than most of the beds that courtiers slept on in Versailles. And so cu

Oyo

"Holy Jesus, what I have I done—" said de Gex, and tried again to move; but the pain in his leg nearly killed him. He fell back and crossed himself.

Oyo

"I had to escape from Versailles," said de Gex. "I was an imbecile before—it took me so long to understand the enormity of this conspiracy. Madame la duchesse d'Arcachon, of course, is at the center—but she is in league—always has been—with L'Emmerdeur. The Baron von Hacklheber was her enemy, but is now her friend. She operates with the Juncto hand-in-glove. Newton—the recoinage in England—all part of the same conspiracy! What could I do? D'Avaux displeased her, and was sent packing to Stockholm! Lucky he was not poisoned—or harpooned, as I was!"

"This sounds," said the Duchess, "like a little speech that you memorized, before you swallowed my sleeping-draught, so that you could recite it to St. Peter if you never woke up. I am not St. Peter, and this is the gateway to Hell, not Heaven. But if it pleases you to recite the speech anyway, pray continue."

"You must understand, cousine, that if there was nothing more to the conspiracy, I needn't have troubled you. For my Order is not without resources of its own; and when conjoined to the Office of the Holy Inquisition there is little in heaven or earth that could not be accomplished. But that was before I came to understand that she had seduced none other than Bonaventure Rossignol himself!"

"As much as I loathe her, I must admit this was a master-stroke. For who, other than le Roi himself, could be a more powerful ally for a subtle and co

"Just so! I realized, then, that I was trapped like a fly in her web. For there is nothing that I do in this life that is not observed by hundreds of courtiers, all of whom gossip, and many of whom write letters. In consequence Rossignol must know everything I do, and must pass it on to Madame la duchesse d'Arcachon while they are fornicating! I then saw myself to be helpless, as long as I remained in this life—in this world. The failed assassination had given me—praise God and His mysterious ways—a convincing pretext for dying young. Hence the request I whispered into your ear—which must have struck you as very strange."

"Look about yourself, having been resurrected in this of all places, and tell me what is strange," said Oyo

"Our Savior, having died on the cross, descended to the very pit of Hell before ascending once more into the light," de Gex remarked. "Still, I must know, cousine, if you invoked any of the Fallen ones—if my death and resurrection were effected by dæmonic necromancy or—"

"Dæmonic necromancy is so tedious, and fraught with unintended consequences," said Oyo

"Why did you choose to bring me around here of all places, then?"

"It was ever my plan that if I were to miscalculate the dose, and if I opened the coffin to find you dead in fact as well as in appearance, then I should employ the arts of the necromancer to bring you back to life."

It took de Gex some moments to absorb this.

"But, cousine, I had always believed that you had only affected an interest in the Black Arts, when it was fashionable, years ago, when you were young and foolish. That you considered it all perfect nonsense."