In all democracies therefore it is of the utmost importance to regulate by whom, and in what manner, the suffrages are to be given.

I read the quotation again, double-checked its accuracy. Looked for the publication date: 1765. I wondered to whom Blackstone thought the suffrages should be given. I wrote the word correction in the bottom-left corner of the slip and added my initials, E.N. Then I pinned it to the three other slips.

I took the longer route back to the Scriptorium, stopping in at New Theatre.

Inside, it took a moment for my eyes to adjust to the dark. The players were onstage, paused mid-scene. A few people were seated in the middle rows.

“I was wondering if I’d see you today,” said Bill when I sat beside him.

“I have ten minutes,” I said. “I wanted to see them in their costumes.”

It was a dress rehearsal. Opening night was just three days away.

“Why do you come every day?” asked Bill.

I had to think. “It’s about seeing something before it’s fully formed. Watching it evolve. I imagine sitting here on opening night and appreciating every scene all the more because I understand what has led to it.”

Bill laughed.

“What’s so funny?”

“Nothing. It’s just that you don’t speak often, but when you do it’s perfect.”

I looked down and rubbed my hands together.

“And I love that you never talk about hats,” Bill said.

“Hats? Why would I talk about hats?”

“Women like to talk about hats.”

“Do they?”

“The fact you don’t know that is what will make me fall in love with you.”

Suddenly, every word I ever knew evaporated.