I wish there were more time. I feel I have only just begun the actual work, and suddenly I must give over to another, to you, whose care of the Archives will naturally be dictated by your own preoccupations. My curacy is over now.

I have decided not to withhold anything, but instead to offer up the entire story, and let you decide how to proceed. Since I am to have no say in what is done with (or to) the Archives, nor any access to them after the handing-over, I have resolved not to serve badly my precious charge, in these last days, by making it difficult for my supplanter to come to the same appreciation of its worth.

This may be made difficult for you by others. As the Remnant say, Beware the giver with nothing to gain.

I urge you not to depend upon the benignity of your sponsors. Not to give offense, but the Council members surely regard this as minor research, or it would not have been entrusted to you: had any of your betters regarded this project as really important you may be sure he would have seized upon it himself.

On the other hand, they clearly believed the Archives important enough to take them away from *me*. What they most likely told you was that this would be a good project for their golden protégé, thus trivializing not only all my labor but the Archives themselves.

Well. I put myself under their power, so I must not complain of maltreatment. But I will never forgive their light regard for the object of my life's work. And if you are wise, you will realize that you too have been trivialized in this maneuver.[...]

I once believed that bringing forth these writings from the remote past would make my reputation, gain me equal status amongst those august personages. You see what happened. Now consult your own heart. If you are likewise motivated, beware. An older man than yourself would perhaps not need this warning, having suffered a blow or two to his pride and found that he could survive the damage.

However, what is truly important here is neither your maturity (or lack of it) nor my pride. What matters is the integrity of the Archives, which will soon make a claim upon your loyalty, or so I hope, that will transcend these trifling concerns.