For a good portion of the evening, Tyler and Rosie spoke of their respective pasts. Tyler began by telling Rosie that he had been born in Toronto, but his family had moved to Oshawa not long after. He grew up with a relatively normal life in Oshawa, yet relations with a certain family member were always less than happy. His father's sister had produced a son, a cousin to Tyler who had grown to be as brutal and cruel as possible with only one intention: to direct all that brutality and cruelty towards him. When Rosie asked why, Tyler told her of when he had asked the same question to his cousin. His answer had been "Because you were named after our grandpa before I was!" It was a petty reason and one that Tyler himself had difficulty believing because he could not believe a real person could ever be that petty.
"I haven't seen him in three years." Said Tyler, tapping a finger on his knee and looking at the floor, before once more looking Rosie in the eye. "And honestly, I'm fine with that."
Rosie spoke about having been born in South Africa, specifically in Johannesburg. Her mother had died when she was eight-years-old and so for a while her family had only consisted of her, her father, who forgot her birthday every year, and her elder sister by eight years. Two years later, her sister got married to a man seven years her elder, something that caused her father great distress. From thar marriage had come a son, a nephew to Rosie. After that, Rosie explained that her father made the decision to move to Canada for an ill-defined reason, just telling Rosie "It will be for the best."
"Honestly, it has been for the best." Said Rosie. "Life is better for the most part, I don't get to see my sister and her family that often, but otherwise life has been better here in Canada than it was in South Africa. Canada is in general a more peaceful place, I've gotten a good education, a good job… I've gotten to meet you."
Noticing the blush on her face, Tyler smiled and said: "I'm happy to have met you too, Rosie." Hearing someone suddenly clear their throat, Tyler and Rosie looked to the right. Standing there was the old man whom Tyler had seen at Laszlo's office the previous day, the one that Laszlo had called an old crackpot. Immediately, Tyler asked: "Uh, can we help you, sir? Do you work for the museum, what reason are you here? Are you here to warn me about a magician who is a criminal mastermind as well?"
"Young man, I am Sherrington Farringdon." stated the Old Man calmly. "And this young lady is in danger."
"W-What?" asked Rosie in alarm. "What do you mean?"
"Let me guess, in danger from this magician you told Laszlo about?" inquired Tyler, standing up and approaching the Old Man. "Look… Sherrington, was it? You seem like a nice old man, but one who might not have a good grip on reality. Magicians are for the stage, nothing more, nothing less. Laszlo mentioned things so worthy of old comics and movies like radio death rays and television burglary devices. How would these things even work? Who is this man?"
"Alessandro Cagliostro." Answered Sherrington, still quite calm.
"Oh, come on!" exclaimed Tyler, completely incredulous at what he was hearing. "Cagliostro is a bit of a jerk and a misogynist, but he is no…" What if he was? Tyler thought back to when Cagliostro had acted as if he had been the one being criticized when he had criticized Ashurbanipal. What if the reason for that was because in truth, Cagliostro was… Shaking his head, Tyler looked Sherrington in the eye and said: "Sir, the lady and I shall be on our way and I hope you won't be following us."
Gesturing for Rosie to follow him, Tyler and her exited the gallery and began to make their way towards a flight of stairs. Once they both looked over their shoulders, but the old man was not following them. Perhaps, he was just mad, but harmless.