As much as Sherrington attempted to explain to Laszlo, the businessman would have none of it. When Tyler and Rosie tried to explain it to him, he would still have none of it. Laszlo was many things, but not willing to believe in things like magicians living for millennia via nitrates was not one of those things. He believed that Cagliostro would never try to murder someone and made it clear that he wished to hear no more of what he considered to be nonsense.
Wishing to stay with Rosie for the night, Tyler wanted to go back to Laszlo's to get his regular clothes. If he didn't, he'd be stuck wearing a suit the next day as well. Once he had, having packed his clothes into a bag, Tyler accompanied Rosie back to her apartment.
Rosie's apartment was on the ground floor. It was nothing luxurious, fairly standard. There was a couch, a couple of chairs, a coffee table, a dinning table, a kitchen, etc.
Finding a copy of "The Travels of Marco Polo" upon the coffee table, Tyler picked it up and commented: "Hey, I read this back in the fourth grade! Excellent read!"
"The fourth grade?" Rosie inquired as she removed her high heels. From the tone of her voice, Tyler could tell she was impressed. "Your teacher must have been thrilled to have a student reading something so advanced."
"Not really." Replied Tyler, putting the book down. "She thought I was reading above my level and insisted that I take the book back to the library immediately and instead read something that was already in the classroom. When I chose to read 'The Jungle Book', she threw a fit and I learned that she considered classical literature to be above my reading level. When I told my parents, they had a meeting with my teacher, the principal present of course, me as well. What she said about me, was the most absurd thing I have ever heard period."
Interested, Rosie walked over and asked: "What did she say?"
Looking her in the eye, Tyler answered: "That someone whose eyes don't match can't possibly have a very high reading level and that I was trying to read things like 'The Travels of Marco Polo' and 'The Jungle Book' in an attempt to look smart."
Appalled, Rosie exclaimed: "That's horrible!"
"And she got fired for it." Commented Tyler. "Having a teacher who believed in something so absurd just did not look good for the school." Sighing, he then added: "But, that is life… And life has just gotten strange… Maybe stranger. My grandpa says life is strange, so with this whole Cagliostro thing I don't know if this counts as strange or stranger."
"He called me 'Lookalike Number Eight' overall." Rosie said, as she walked over to her bedroom. Closing the door, she then called out from inside her room: "I wonder who the others were."
Standing five feet away from the door, Tyler replied: "Well, we know one of them was Sherrington's sister, another was the female relation of his ally that we have yet to meet and when we first me, he mentioned a woman who betrayed him, so she is probably who you and the other seven resemble."
"Do you think she was his queen or a member of his harem back when he was Ashurbanipal?"
"Most likely and do you know who Ashurbanipal is?"
"Of course, he was an irresponsible and self-indulgent Neo-Assyrian king under whose reign his empire showed clear signs of impending dislocation and fall." Emerging from her bedroom in a sleeveless pink nightgown, Rosie then added: "I'm not sure if I see the irresponsible, but I might see the self-indulgent."
"And his current name is Alessandro Cagliostro, more commonly believed to be an alias of the occultist Giuseppe Balsamo. If he is indeed that Cagliostro, then he is who Thomas Carlyle called the 'Quack of Quacks' and I'm not sure if I see that in him." Tyler looked Rosie over with a smile, before asking: "Are you scared?"
Rosie replied: "A little bit, but the fact that he isn't going to be using that death ray he mentioned makes me less scared."
"I guess that just leaves any magic spells of his. Do you suppose he has a crystal ball and is watching us now?"
"I hope not!" exclaimed Rosie with a shudder. "Depending on who he is following with it, that means he just watched me undress!"
"Well, if he did, hopefully your description of him when he was Ashurbanipal was enough for him to hurl it against the wall."
"If not that, probably you bringing up that Thomas Carlyle called him the 'Quack of Quacks.'" After giving a small giggle, Rosie inquired: "What other identities do you think he's had?"
"Well, not any other leaders, we know that much." Commented Tyler as he stroked his chin. "Though when we first met, he mentioned having his favourite time periods, meaning he liked living through those periods the most."
Taking a seat upon the couch, an off-white thing that looked used but not too used, Rosie asked: "What periods were these?"
Sitting next to Rosie, Tyler thought back to what Cagliostro had said. "Well, there was the Neo-Assyrian period, which he was born in. There was the Roman period, but he did not specify if he meant the Kingdom, the Republic, the Empire or all three."
"Taking into account when Ashurbanipal is said to have died and when the Neo-Assyrian Empire ended, he may have been a Roman citizen since the time of the Roman Kingdom." Mused Rosie.
"And the next one he mentioned was the Anglo-Saxon period, so he meant Saxon England." Continued Tyler.
"Which started in 500, twenty-four years after the end of the Roman Empire." A look of curiosity fell upon Rosie's countenance as she wondered: "Where was he in the years between those two periods?"
"Possibly Sub-Roman Britain." Conjectured Tyler. "Since Britain was a Roman province, he could very well have been living there and remained when all other Roman citizens withdrew."
"Meaning he would have been there when Saxon England was born."
"That seems to be the case, Rosie. He then mentioned the Crusades, the first of which began in 1096."
"Thirty-years after William the Conqueror's victory at Hastings and that crusade did not even involve England."
"The second did, as did the third and the ninth, so he may not have been active in all of them."
"Tyler, do you know if there was a state active in all of the Crusades?" inquired Rosie. "My knowledge of the Crusades is not what it should be."
"Unfortunately, no." confessed Tyler. "I know about the Second, Third, Fourth and Ninth Crusades, but nothing about the others."
"So, all we know is that he was active during the Crusades." Commented Rosie flatly. "Wonderful."
"Indeed." Agreed Tyler, his tone equally flat. "The final period he mentioned was the French Revolution, which the Quack of Quacks would have been alive for."
"That certainly brings credence to the possibility of him being that Cagliostro." Uttered Rosie. "And those periods must have included women that resembled she who betrayed him… Women who resemble me."
It was poor luck, that much was true. Had Cagliostro not seen a resemblance between Rosie and that long dead lover of his, he probably would not have noticed her.
"Rosie, I promise, I won't let anything happen to you." Assured Tyler, taking her by the hand. He knew it was absurd to feel this way about a woman he had only just met that night, but the fact of the matter was, that was life. People could think it romantic nonsense, something with no scientific rationale, but the fact was that love at first sight happened more often in real life than most people thought. Could this have even been called love at first sight? Tyler wasn't sure, he'd heard of her beforehand and perhaps he had fallen in love with her just from hearing about her, how she liked many of the same things that he did, many of the same places. Romantic feelings could develop at first sight and they could develop over time, but could they develop before even meeting a person? Mark Twain had fallen in live with his wife, it was said, just from seeing a picture of her, telling Tyler that one did not have to meet a person to fall in love at first sight, but still the question remained: could someone fall in love with somebody just by hearing about them? For Rosie, it could have been love at first sight, or maybe just them making that connection when they met that night, but what was it for him? Was it love at first sight or had he fallen in love with her just by hearing about her? Alas, he knew not.
"Nor, I you, Tyler." Returned Rosie, giving his hand a squeeze. "Now how about a change of subject, something less grim?"
Smiling, Tyler nodded, saying: "A welcome thing. What were you thinking? Watch a film?" Rosie returned the smile and nodded. So, before going to sleep, they watched "The Hunchback of Notre-Dame", a romance.