You know, the Doctor was already growing rather fond of this funny old man. Wasn't often he met someone remotely close to his age and he had...well, he had flare! The Doctor appreciated flare. Flare was good. Flare was interesting and all his companions could probably agree on how much he liked interesting.

The Doctor flashed the Elder with a grin at the shoulder pat. "Probably is." After resisting the urge to poke at the plank, the Doctor turned and followed the old man over to the table and a book that was trying so very hard to be impressive that the Doctor thought maybe he ought to pretend he was so incredibly impressed that there wasn't even a word for it.

"I'm sure they'd be fine," the Doctor flapped his hand. Give him something new, weird and interesting and suddenly he was quite happy to take as long as he needed. He cocked his head to peer at the pages. "I take it you've had a look already, yeah?"