CONTENTS
| CHAPTER | PAGE | |
| I. | The Theory of Copernicus Droop | [1] |
| II. | A Visit to the Panchronicon | [23] |
| III. | A Nocturnal Evasion | [38] |
| IV. | A Change of Plan | [58] |
| V. | Droop's Theory in Practice | [86] |
| VI. | Shipwrecked on the Sands of Time | [103] |
| VII. | New Ties and Old Relations | [123] |
| VIII. | How Francis Bacon Cheated the Bailiffs | [157] |
| IX. | Phœbe at the Peacock Inn | [179] |
| X. | How the Queen Read Her Newspaper | [208] |
| XI. | The Fat Knight at the Boar's Head | [242] |
| XII. | How Shakespeare Wrote His Plays | [258] |
| XIII. | How the Fat Knight did Homage | [277] |
| XIV. | The Fate of Sir Percevall's Suit | [297] |
| XV. | How Rebecca Returned to Newington | [317] |
| XVI. | How Sir Guy Kept His Tryst | [324] |
| XVII. | Rebecca's Trump Card | [340] |
THE PANCHRONICON
CHAPTER I
THE THEORY OF COPERNICUS DROOP
The two sisters were together in their garden.
Rebecca Wise, turned forty and growing slightly gray at the temples, was moving slowly from one of her precious plants to the next, leaning over each to pinch off a dead leaf or count the buds. It was the historic month of May, 1898, and May is the paradise of flower lovers.
Phœbe was eighteen years younger than her sister, and the beauty of the village. Indeed, many declared their belief that the whole State of New Hampshire did not contain her equal.