Page 70 - The Midnight Library

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‘Voltsy. Come on, Voltsy,’ she whispered.

But the moment she touched his cold body she knew, and she was flooded
with sadness and confusion. She immediately found herself back in the
Midnight Librar y, facing Mrs Elm, who was sat this time in a comfy chair,
deeply absorbed in one of the books.

‘I don’t understand,’ Nora told her.
Mrs Elm kept her eyes on the page she was reading. ‘ ere will be many
things you don’t understand.’
‘I asked for the life in which Voltaire was still alive.’

‘Actually, you didn’t.’
‘What?’
She put her book down. ‘You asked for the life where you kept him
indoors. at is an entirely different thing.’

‘Is it?’
‘Yes. Entirely. You see, if you’d have asked for the life where he was still
alive I would have had to say no.’
‘But why?’

‘Because it doesn’t exist.’
‘I thought ever y life exists.’
‘Ever y possible life. You see, it turns out that Voltaire had a serious case of ’
– she read carefully from the book – ‘restrictive cardiomyopathy, a severe

case of it, which he was born with, and which was destined to cause his
heart to go at a young age.’
‘But he was hit by a car.’
‘ ere is a difference, Nora, between dying in a road and being hit by a

car. In your root life Voltaire lived longer than almost any other life, except
the one you’ve just encountered, where he died only three hours ago.
Although he had a tough few early years, the year you had him was the best
of his life. Voltaire has had much worse lives, believe me.’

‘You didn’t even know his name a moment ago. Now you know he had
restrictive cardio-whatever?’
‘I knew his name. And it wasn’t a moment ago. It was the same moment,
check your watch.’

‘Why did you lie?’
‘I wasn’t lying. I asked you what your cat’s name was. I never said I didn’t
know what your cat’s name was. Do you understand the difference? I just