“And what is the nature of your business?” he asked with a stern voice.

These border guards are always a pest he thought. “I’ve been asked by Dr. Fulbrict of the Universiteit van Amsterdam to lecture on tumors of the lungs. Would you care to see my specimens?” he tapped the large steamer trunk on the cart beside him.

The guard’s gaze passed from Dr. Thomas Davis’ face to the trunk and back. A look of disgust and nausea passed over it before he finally waved the Doctor through the gate to the train platform.

Dr. Davis pushed the cart down the wooden platform. The wheels thumping on the spaces between the boards kept an odd time with Handel’s Se giunge un dispetto aria that he was singing in his head. A look of mild bemusement spread across his face as he approached the baggage car.

So close to completion. Confound that maid for allowing the boilermaker into the basement without my permission. I suppose I shall have to start over but then, second time around should be easier than the first.