You know of Nathanial Hawthorne’s tale of “Rappaccini’s Daughter,” but do you know of the second, equally beautiful, daughter who had a significant effect on all time travelers?
And that is why our time machines are not permitted to travel back farther than the middle of the twentieth century.

Variants

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  1. “Rappaccini’s Other Daughter” by Anthony Boucher, in The Compleat Boucher (NESFA Press, January 1999).
  2. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . written by Anthony Boucher