Pardon me.Are you Bertram Qualley?
Excuse me?Oh, oh, yes, yes.I am Bert indeed.Yes, ma'am.
Harlow Starling.I called about chartering a boat to Clover Island.I have an appointment at Candlewood Manor.
Right, right.You're the reporter.You're off to sea, Mr. Rains.Well, here she is.Yes, yes, this is my beloved Bellflower.Isn't she a beauty?
Yes, we are taking that.You wouldn't want me to cheat on my missus with some other... Well, she's a... It's a robot.
Yes, that she is.Aye-aye, miss.Uh... One moment. Come on, Harlow.It's your one chance to interview the inventor, Arthur Reigns.You'd swim if you had to.You'd shoot yourself out of a cannon to get to that island.
Uh, miss?Yes?Listen, I suggest that we get on our way before that major storm over there becomes a major storm over here and over there.Not good.
Well, it's been a while since I've been in a rowboat.
We're off to see Mr. Rains of Ask Me Hearties!
Oh, I can't believe it.I've been given an exclusive.Famed recluse inventor Arthur Raines breaks his silence in first interview in ten years with reporter of the year, Harlow Starling.
Excuse me, miss, don't mean to interrupt, but, um, I hear that that gentleman has gone rather cuckoo.Yes, turning a turtle into a dove, a dove into a doorstop.
Mr. Quiley, is that supposed to happen?
Is what supposed to happen, miss?
The water at the bottom of the boat.At the bottom of the boat?
No, that's not supposed to happen.Oh, my goodness.
Oh, my goodness.Is that a hole?
Oh, my gosh.My little bellflower has a leak.Oh, my goodness.Oh, no.
A leak?We're only halfway to the island. Sir, come quick.There's been an accident.An accident?What are you talking about?
Oh!Oh!Yeah!Help is coming!Oh!Oh!Oh!Oh!Oh!Oh!Oh!Oh!Oh!Oh!Oh!Oh!Oh!Oh!Oh!Oh!Oh!Oh!Oh!Oh!Oh!Oh!Oh!Oh!Oh!Oh!Oh!Oh!Oh!Oh!Oh!Oh!Oh!Oh!Oh!Oh!Oh!
Oh!Oh!Oh!Oh!Oh!Oh!Oh!Oh!Oh!Oh!Oh!Oh!Oh!Oh!
Oh!Oh!Oh!Oh!Oh!Oh!Oh!Oh!Oh!Oh!Oh!Oh!Oh!Oh!Oh!Oh!Oh!Oh!Oh!Oh!Oh!Oh!Oh!Oh!Oh!Oh!Oh!Oh!Oh!Oh!Oh!Oh!Oh!Oh!Oh!Oh!Oh!Oh!Oh!Oh!Oh!Oh!Oh!Oh!
Should have called for a doctor.
Well, I don't know what you expected me to do, Oswin.
Well, I expect you should have called for a doctor.We could never get a doctor out here in this weather.We should have let her rest somewhere that is not your master bedroom.Well, the least I could do is let her rest somewhere comfortable.
If it were up to you, you'd have her set up on a cot next to the kitchen.How's the sailor?
Upset, but fine.I should never have agreed to meet him.What was I thinking?You weren't.
If you just, for one moment, slow down your... Usually, when I find myself waking in the bed of a strange man, it's to breakfast and coffee and something more enjoyable than two bickering men.
And with that, I'll leave you to it.Arthur.
Hello.That was Oswin.He's the groundskeeper and takes care of... I could call down to the kitchen if you'd like coffee or something more.
You don't see many women in your bed very often, do you?
I don't see anyone in my bed often.I'm rarely in my bed.Are you feeling all right?
More embarrassed than anything.
Embarrassed?No, it was courageous.You made quite an impression on... Oh, how's Bert?Bert?Oh, Bert!Downstairs in the kitchen.Fine.Crying about someone named Bellflower.
Oh, the Bellflower is his rowboat.
Ah, of course. You've no need to worry.I have a boat of my own.When the storm clears up, we can take you back to the mainland.
Leave?Yes.But we haven't even started.
I thought that you'd want to go home after... After that?
That was nothing.You should have seen how I turned up on that doorstep of the Prince of Belgium.
I want to know what recluse inventor Arthur Raines has hidden behind the doors of his Abandoned haunted castle on the moors of Plover Island.
Do you need to refer to me as a recluse inventor?
What would you call yourself?
And I wouldn't necessarily consider Plover Island the moors.
And Candlewood Manor is hardly abandoned or haunted, for that matter.
Would you rather I lay all night in your bed nitpicking with you, or would you rather show me what you've been working on for the past ten years?
Well, if those are my choices... I'll need a robe, if you please.
I don't know about this.Are you sure you want to go down there?
Don't worry, Oz.Reigns knows what he's doing.
Wouldn't place a bet on it.Stay here.
I'll go down and turn on the lights.
Are you sure you don't want me to, sir?Why, just this morning you were asking me to bring you... Of course not.
I'm perfectly capable of switching the... As always, perfectly capable. I'm all right.Now, where's the switch?Oh, found it.Safe to come down.Welcome to my Imaginarium.
Oh, it's wonderful.Oh my goodness, what's this?
That is a tree that grows creamsicle oranges.Here, give it a try. Oh my god, how delicious!And this?My garden of luminescence.
How magnificent!Pardon me.You're magnificent.
Now I understand why you spend all of your time down here.
It's rather fantastical, isn't it?
I assure you that whatever you see is real.
These inventions should be seen.They belong in a world's fair.
I don't know.They're hardly useful.
Can't you imagine it?A street in Paris, lined with trees that grow creamsicle oranges.
That would be a very sweet street.
What's that under that tarp?I see it glowing.
That's nothing.It's a time machine!Oh, no.
A time machine?Does it work?
Would you like to give her a spin?I would not advise it.
Sir, the last time you had to sign at least a hundred confidential documents.An exaggeration, I assure. from a confidential organization.
No big deal.One of those ones out of the alphabet.
At an undisclosed location.In the middle of a very spectacular nowhere.I had to pick you up at the side of a cornfield in South Dakota.
South Dakota is underrated.Take a seat.
In for feather, in for a rooster, as they say.
Oh, my great-aunt Lipton did.
Ugh, they're made for one another.Oswin, pull that lever there.Arthur, I really don't think that this is a good idea for a girl.
Your protest is well noted.Don't worry, we won't be gone long.
Fine.That's the spirit.Three, two, one.
Harlow Starling, time traveler.
It worked!Of course it worked!Welcome to the past.When are we?Where are we?Look, over at the shore.Oh, that's me.And Bert.Oh no, poor Bert.Well, that's not too long ago.
Still in its testing phase.
Oh, I look like a drowned muskrat.What a first impression.
That's just after you swam Bert to shore.
And a bit bumbling, but you know, it's charming in its own way.
An insult and a compliment all in one breath.
Do you feel that?I don't quite remember it raining when we got to shore.
No, it only started up again after we got the two of you back to Candlewood.
That storm doesn't seem to be letting up any time soon.I need to get them back before anything terrible happens.Arthur?Oh God, where are you?
Something's not right.That storm's coming from our present.
Look!Our past selves.They started over.Are we back when we first arrived?I don't understand.
The storm in our present is affecting the time machine, creating a loop in our past selves.Well, current selves.However you want to look at it.
What do we do, Arthur?How do we fix this?
What do I do?That lever there?I told him not to go.Okay.Right.I remember this.
Easy now.Here you go.Whoa.Thanks.
What do you mean?He's not here?
No.What's the last thing you remember?
I saw this bright flash of light, and he was gone.And then another flash, and I was here.Wait, what's this in my hand?
Have a look at it.Harlow, I apologize for having to run out of your interview like that.Time travel is a fickle friend.I would have liked to have spent more time getting to know you.Please don't worry about me.
I'll find my way to you, Harlow Starling, time traveler.Oh, no.
Harlow, darling, we did it!We?An article, and now a novel!A night at Candlewood Manor made our careers!Oh, time to begin!Don't you disappear, my little time traveller, you!Ahem! Good evening.I'm Bartleby of Bartleby Books Publishing.
It's my great pleasure to present to you tonight's guest of honor, Harlow Starling.
Thank you all for coming.I could never have imagined two years ago when I set out to track down inventor Arthur Raines that my adventure would lead me here, or that I'd be the last person to see Arthur Raines alive.
I'll read a short excerpt, so we can get back to the champagne.The Banyans made eaves over the river running like a vein through Plover Island, the home of Candlewood Manor.
Sir, you can't just barge in there.I don't intend on barging.I was going to open the doors and walk through them.
The songbirds lurked in the brush and hushed at the approach of intruders.
It's invites only, sir.I don't need an invitation, Oz.The damned book is about me.
Excuse me.I'll just be a minute.Arthur!
I don't think we scheduled a time for me to return.
Two years is overdoing it.I can understand one year for suspense, but two years is dramatic.I almost forgot all about you.
Hardly.You wrote an entire book about me, which I enjoyed very much.
How did you read my book?
A slight hiccup where I went into the future.It was lovely.You were there.You were always there.
It doesn't seem very fair.
It wasn't.I could only watch from afar.I was wondering if you'd like to return with me to Candlewood Manor.I'd like to show you a few changes that were made to the time machine, and I'm sure the kitchen could cook up some coffee.
Seems like you learned a few things these past two years.
Of course that's a yes.Harlow Starling, time traveler.
Harlow!What are you doing?You haven't finished reading from your book!
Sorry Bartleby, I've got a sequel to prepare for!
