It reminded him of the time during his undergraduate days when the Puritan had been murdered by Upnor, and Daniel had traveled five miles outside of Cambridge to the funeral, and found his father and brothers, miraculously, there. Exasperating to his mind but comforting to his soul. His words swayed their emotions much more than he wanted, or expected – as two inert substances, mixed in an Alchemist's mortar, can create a fulminating compound, so the invocation of Drake's and Wilkins's memories together.