Summary

Rollo is frustrated as England is more Protestant than ever and he has failed to get Catholics back in power. However, with the turn of the century, he sees one final hope. Queen Elizabeth is sixty-six, and he knows she is becoming old and pale. She treats questions of succession as treason. She claims that people are too concerned with the aftermath, and not what is happening right now. Despite her law, many people talk about the future after her death.

In the summer of 1602, Lenny Price, a student with Rollo at the English College years before, visits Rollo. Lenny tells Rollo the church has a mission for him and needs to see him in Edinburgh. The two are on a rooftop of a castle, looking over the North Sea. Rollo is surprised, as Scotland is ruled by King James VI...