The Maestro speaks.
Anyone who knows my Gilded Age romance series knows I’m kind of in love with my Magic Man, Jules Vanderzeit. I call him the Maestro. The following is a selection of quotes from Jules Vanderzeit from the book, Until We Meet Again.
“If you truly valued time, Miss Winters, you wouldn’t be so prone to wasting yours or mine. Someday you may find that a moment of time is all that separates you from that which you desire most.” As if to press his point, unnecessary as it was, he continued, “If you will recall, it only took a momentary distraction for you to retrieve one of my most prized possessions.”
“You’re going back to Manhattan in 1888 to retrieve a Stradivarius violin. This particular violin was from Antonio Stradivari’s long period, and at the time of its disappearance belonged to a general in the United States army, if you can believe that. Imagine a military general playing a Stradivarius violin. Totally unexpected. It’s reported that the general lent it to a fellow musician and the damn fool left it on a train. Such disrespect for such a valuable instrument deserves to be punished, but fortunately, that’s not my area of concern. I’ll let karma take care of that. My only concern is retrieving the instrument so it can be preserved for all of time.”
“I’ve already determined how this will proceed and how this will end.”
“I always know how things will proceed, and yet the effort must be made, the experience must be allowed to play out. How else can we achieve what we want? I want the violin and you want to be with your daughter. For each of us to get what we want, we must work together. Wouldn’t you agree?”
“History doesn’t know who he is, but I do.”
“Have you ever known me to be wrong?”
“What would you be willing to lose, to have everything you’ve ever wanted?”
“. . . your focus is shifting from where you’ve been to where you are.”
“You may have left my employment, but you’ll always be obligated to me. I am the Maestro of Time. Everyone works for me.”
“This isn’t a punishment; this is an experience, one that you have chosen. Every decision you made was of your own free will. Certain circumstances have been presented—sometimes under my guidance—but every step that brought you here was yours to make. It’s all very simple, perhaps frustratingly so, but you’re here to have an experience, not to be punished. My best advice to you, my only advice, is to choose well. But if mistakes are made, you needn’t worry. You’ll always be allowed to choose again.”
“Stay or go, the choice is yours. One way or another, agreements must be fulfilled,”
