'I should have begun making my preparations immediately following the Revolution,' Daniel admitted, 'but I delayed until after Jeffreys had his enounter with Mr. Jack Ketch at the Tower – by then, 'twas April, and I discovered that in order to leave London I should have to liquidate my life – which has proved much more of a bother than I had expected. Really, 'Tis much more expedient simply to drop dead and let one's mourners see to all of these tedious dispositions.' Daniel waved a hand over his book-stacks, which were dwindling rapidly as Pepys's corps of librarian-mercenaries carried them towards their master and piled them at his feet. Pepys glanced at the cover of each and then flicked his eyes this way or that to indicate whether they should be returned, or taken away; the latter went to a hard-bitten old computer who had set himself up with a lap-desk, quill, and inkwell, and was scratching out a bill of particulars.