“But the consecration’s in seventeen days”
The nurse asserts, “Mr Henry. I’m prescribing two weeks’ bed rest. And no time travel.” Henry responds, “But the consecration’s in seventeen days-” The nurse insists, “I suppose your devotion to duty is admirable but why should you want to risk your health to rebuild an archaic symbol of an outmoded religion is beyond me.” Henry is terrified of disappointing Lady Schrapnell. The nurse equates Henry’s devotion to "criminal carelessness” because it is detrimental to his health.
Henry would be expected to put his health first before Lady Schrapnell's requirements. Besides, in the view of the nurse, the cathedral is archaic, hence, would not be useful in promoting Henry's health. Henry's worried more about the consecration than his own health which is clearly declining due to the shortage of sleep. His ironic devotion suggests that he literally worships Lady Schrapnell and is terrified of defying or annoying her.
The Irony of Lady Schrapnell’s Investment
The nurse questions, “Do you know what fifty billion pounds could do for medicine?...We could find a cure for Ebola II, we could vaccinate children all over the world against HIV, we could purchase some decent equipment. With what Lady Schrapnell is spending on the stained-glass windows alone, Radcliffe Infirmary could build an entire new facility with the latest in equipment.”
Lady Schrapnell’s obsession with the restoration project is ironic considering that there are dire problems such as health care issues that her money would have been invested in. Investing the money in healthcare research would be beneficial to numerous people than investing in the archaic cathedral. Lady Schrapnell’s priority is the cathedral; accordingly, using her money in medical projects would not offer her the same utility that the restoration would offer her once it is restored.
The Irony of Lady Schrapnell’s Vengeance
After the nurse prescribes Henry two weeks of bed rest Henry confesses, “There was nowhere in Oxford I could get uninterrupted bed rest, or in England, for that matter. When Lady Schrapnell found out I was back, she’d track me down and interrupt me with a vengeance. I could see her storming in, flinging the covers off, and leading me by the ear over to the net.”
Lady Schrapnell's anticipated vengeance is ironic. She would be expected to understand that sleep is imperative for Henry's wellbeing for the nurse has confirmed it. Her ability to trace Henry in any part in Oxford confirms that she is absolutely powerful. Lady Schrapnell selfishly overworks Henry without considering its implication on his health.
The Irony of Lady Schrapnell’s Demands on Chsiwick
Chsiwick complains, “The woman’s (Lady Schrapnell) completely out of control. She pages me night and day, wanting to know why we can’t send people more than once to the same time and place, why we can’t process more drops per hour even though she has systematically stripped me of my research staff and my net staff and sent them running all over the past looking at almboxes and analyzing flying buttresses.”
Lady Schrapnell’s demands for more drops are ironic considering that she reduces Chsiwick’s capacity to complete his assigned tasks. Had she been an effective manager or boss, she would not have interfered with the staff working under Chsiwick. Pressurizing Chsiwick would not be productive because he lacks vital resources, people, to undertake his assignment, Lady Schrapnell's poor decision making and authoritarianism complicates Chsiwick's work.
“Laws are made to be broken”
Lady Schrapnell insists, “Laws are made to be broken.” However, Chiswick explains, “I tried to explain to her…that the laws of physics aren’t mere rules or regulations, that they’re laws, and that the breaking of them would result in disastrous consequences…the space-time continuum is a chaotic system in which every event is connected to every other in elaborate, nonlinear ways that make prediction impossible.”
Lady Scrapnell wants all physics laws to be violated for her to recover the bird stump. Her ignorance of physics laws is manifest. She does not recognize that subversion of such laws would create irreversibly destructive chaos. Clearly, Lady Schrapnell's obsession hinders her from being objective in her reasoning and demands on historians.
