Thursday, 21 April, 1870
The League has had an extremely busy day. So busy that for most of the day Patsy and I had the house to ourselves. The pantry and cabinets are in better order than they have been for several weeks. Everyone is asleep now, even Miss Sinclair.
When I ended my chronicle last night, our household had split into three parties. Lt. Wooster and Mr. Caine went to the Ditteridge home, on the pretext of offering condolences to the family whereas the real mission was to watch over the family in case the murder of Baron Scarisbrick was part of a larger plot to do harm to the family. Meanwhile, the Master, Miss Whitnell, Miss Namaste, Miss Sinclair, and Edward drove to the home of Mr. Robert Ditteridge, to deliver the news of his grandfather's death, and escort him to his parents' home. The remainder of the League remained here, trying to get some sleep.
When the Master and Miss Whitnell broke the
news to Mr. Robert Ditteridge, he was understandably distraught.
He went into the bedroom of his flat to dress for the journey.
Before he could light his lamp, a spine-chilling laughter filled
the darkness, and everyone realized that the killer must be hiding
in Mr. Ditteridge's room.
Before anyone could reach him, a lamp was knocked off it's table,
shattering and covering both the floor and Mr. Ditteridge's pants
with lamp oil. Almost immediately the oil was ignited. The Master
tried to reach Mr. Ditteridge to drag him from the flames. Meanwhile,
Miss Sinclair was pulling up a rug in the parlor with which to
beat out the flames. And Miss Namaste tried to tear down some
curtains to wrap around Mr. Ditteridge and smother the flames.
Unfortunately, Miss Namaste forgot that she was still wearing her ball gown, with its crinoline skirt. She knocked over the dressing stand, which had the fortuitous effect of throwing some water on part of the fire. Unfortunately, the lower cabinet of the stand contained a jug half full of oil from which Mr. Ditteridge regularly replenished his lamps. The Master had managed to warp his top coat around Mr. Ditteridge, and was dragging him from the room when he became entangled in Miss Namaste's skirts. The three of them fell out of the room in a heap.
Inside the room they had seen not a human murdered, but some sort of demonic creature. Miss Namaste described seeing creature from numerous hindi legends. The master saw a bat-winged creature looking like medeival paintings of the devil. Miss Sinclair reported that she perceived the spirit of a person somehow separated from it's body.
All of this noise had not gone unnoticed by Miss Sinclair, Mr. Frazer, or Edward. When the party had first arrived, Mr. Frazer was still standing watch over the building. Edward and Miss Sinclair had remained outside with Mr. Frazer. Upon hearing the commotion, Miss Sinclair and Mr. Frazer began running toward the building's entrance. Edward grabbed a rope from the carriage and ran for the nearest wall. See the flames at the window, Mr. Frazer began blowing his police whistle and Miss Sinclair began shouting fire. Edward started climbing the wall.
Mr. Frazer forced the door and rushed inside. Miss Sinclair hesitated, not wishing to leave Edward without back up. Edward broke the window, intended to help anyone trapped inside the burning room escape. Flames and smoke exploded from the opening... and in the flames there appeared a malevolent spirit, which seemed to recognize Edward. The phantom attacked Edward.
Mr. Frazer met the others as they were exiting the burning flat. Mr. Frazer carried Mr. Ditteridge, now injured, down the stairs. The Master carried Miss Namaste, whose skirt was torn in several places and tangled. Miss Whitnell was able to hurry down the stairs under her own power.
When the creature attacked Edward, Edward let go of the wall and slid down the rope. The creature followed. Afterwards Edward said that it felt as if icy hands were wrapped around his throat, squeezing. Miss Sinclair caught Edward. Coincidentally, the phantom vanished just as Edward fell into Miss Sinclair's arms. While checking to see how badly Edward was injured, Miss Sinclair noted that there was frost on the collar of his shirt.
The neighbors formed a bucket brigade to deal
with the fire. Miss Whitnell and the Master tended to the wounded
in the carriage as Edward drove them to hospital.
Once Mr. Ditteridge's burns were treated, the master and the others
arrived at the Ditteridge townhouse, where all of the daughters
of Baron Scarisbrick, along with their husbands and some of their
children, had gathered to comfort each other.
Having ascertained that Mr. Caine and Lt. Wooster were on their guard, the master, Miss Whitnell, Miss Namaste, Miss Sinclair, and Edward returned home to get some rest.
It has been decided that an investigation of the murdered Baron's laboratory is the next order of business. I have sent word to prepare the master's private cars for the train trip to Liverpool. The master, Mr. Cuthbert, Mrs. Cuthbert, Miss Whitnell, Miss Sinclair, Mr. Frazer, and Edward will be going to Liverpool. I must go help Edward load the luggage in the carriages.
~Later~
It has been a very full day, indeed. The trip
to Liverpool was pre-empted by the discovery of a most unusual
dog, one who can communicate by touching letters on an alphabet
board and spelling out sentences. He wears a collar bearing a
brass plate engraved with the name, "Owen" and identifying
him as property of Baron Scarisbrick.
I intended to write out the day's adventures of the household,
but I dozed off just now in mid-sentence. So I shall finish this
account tomorrow.
Proceed to 3. An Unusual Witness
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