28 April, 1870
It is good to be out of Hospital and doing something useful again. When I expressed this sentiment to Sir Cosmo, he remarked that healing is a very useful thing. Mr. Graves seemed to understand what I meant.
Sir Cosmo was very apologetic about the room which they have given me to sleep in. Such an enormous room, with a bed of my own! I do not deserve such luxury. I don't think I will ever understand the upper class English. Of course, I'm sure that the rajahs back home had very similar expectations about personal space.
There is very much to learn here. I hope that I am up to the challenge. Mr. Graves could give lessons in unobserved movement at temple. I understand now why none of Sir Cosmo's enemies have succeeded in eliminating him. I wonder how many assassins have been thwarted by Mr. Graves?
The party last evening was an interesting affair. I have never seen so many english noblemen gathered in one place, and so many of them were anxious to impress Miss Chigwidgeon. They were also lavishing their attentions on Miss Whitnell, Miss Sinclair, and Mrs. Cuthbert. It is no surprise, really, each of the women in our party was quite attractive, and taken collectively the effect was breath-taking.
Clearly I was not the only one to think so. Today an enormous number of letters arrived in the mail, most addressed to Miss Chigwidgeon. Sons of Dukes and Earls and Barons are intent on courting her. I wondered if any of them will remain interested if they learn she is not a foreign princess. I was ashamed to have such thoughts, obviously motivated in part out of sheer jealousy. I felt somewhat vindicated in my suspicions when I heard Miss Sinclair and Miss Whitnell alluding to such motivations later when they were helping Miss Chigwidgeon decide how to respond to the correspondence.
Miss Whitnell and Miss Sinclair also received more than one letter, though they were less talkative about the identities of their correspondents. I assume that Mrs. Cuthbert received similar mail at her family's home.
Among all of this mail were also communications from Mr. Robert Ditteridge, grandson of the recently murdered Baron, to Sir Cosmo. We are to travel to Liverpool to investigate the Baron's laboratory and make certain that there are no other horrors such as the murderous monkey lurking therein. Mr. Graves will not be accompanying us. I will be responsible for looking after the household. We leave by train tomorrow. There is much packing to do.
29 April, 1870
The household rose early. As we were loading the last of the luggage into the train, Mr. Gaves told me he is trusting me to look after everyone, and not to let myself get too far separated from my charges.
The journey itself was uneventful. I have never seen train cars so luxurious. We were met at the station by Mr. Robert Ditteridge, a Dr. Deeming, and some servants from the home of Lord Haslingdon, who conducted us to the estate where we will be staying. The house is enormous. They expect me to sleep in some rooms in the attic in a far corner of the household. All of the other servants sleep in that part of the house, so I know this is no slight aimed at me. I have made my promise to Mr. Graves, however, and I realize, now, that this is one of the situations he was referring to.
Sir Cosmo and Miss Sinclair each stayed awake quite late reading paperwork related to the Baron's research. Edward fell asleep under the desk in the study they have given to Sir Cosmo to set up his equipment.
I used the opportunity of the wide open architecture to test myself. There is still some weakness in the muscles of my abdomen, but the pain of exertion isn't significantly worse than the pain of standing upright, now. I found a place out of sight near the sleeping chambers of the others where I could rest through the night. I can hear them all breathing and snoring from here, and can get to any of them in mere moments if need be.
30 April 1870
Miss Whitnell, Miss Sinclair, and Mrs. Cuthbert wanted to go horse riding this morning. Miss Chigwidgeon has never ridden a horse. So I and two of the stablehands spent some time showing her the basics. The side-saddle is one of the most insane things that Europeans have invented.
When it seemed that Miss Chigwidgeon was accustomed to handling the animal, I mounted another horse and we left at a slow canter in the direction the other three women had ridden earlier. I believe she was enjoying the experience. Unfortunately, a small animal frightened the horse she was riding.
A lesser woman would have been screaming in hysterics. Miss Chigwidgeon was obviously frightened, but she did not make matters worse with high-pitched screams. I was quite impressed that she was trying to reason with the animal. And even though she was hanging off the side of the animal at an alarming angle, she did not let go of the reigns until I asked her to.
I extricated her from the reigns on the saddle and got her safely to the ground. The horse bolted away. The other ladies, hearing Miss Chigwidgeon's cries, arrived shortly afterwards, and took over the task of comforting her.
When I retrieved the horse, I was pleased that the ladies were united in the conviction that Miss Chigwidgeon should ride home on the same horse.
When we returned to the house, they had to recount the incident to everyone. Sir Cosmo was extremely relieved that no one was injured. The story reminded Dr. Wilson of some similar experience he had had with a horse in America. I noticed that Lt. Wooster did not chime in with a similar story from his travels. I don't believe anyone, other than Mr. Caine, understands how much the lieutenant was hurt by his recent experience courting Miss Glossop.
We relocated to the Baron's house and began the grim business of sorting through the laboratory. The cruelties which the Baron inflicted on his subjects equals anything that the Cobb has ever been accused of. The only difference is that, so far as the household has determined, the Baron limited his work to the dogs, guinea pigs, and monkeys. However, I feel much less malice toward Iota. If I had been locked inside a cage for my entire existence, forced to look every day at the dissected remains of my relatives, knowing with near certainty that one day the man who was my only source of food would place me in such a jar, I would certainly have contemplated avenging their deaths.
I understand why Mrs. Cuthbert is so uncomfortable in the lab that she continues to find errands to do elsewhere.
There are many books full of notes and drawings. The Baron was very thorough. The monkeys are kept in a bank of small cages in the main lab. There is a small operating theatre here, as well as the shelf full of the preserved remains of many animals. A large room behind the lab is full of dozens of hutches, each containing a number of guinea pigs. All the cages are numbered, and if appears there are charts showing genealogy and other information coded to these numbers. There is also an extremely large green house filled with tropical plants.
Miss Sinclair decided it would be best to set Edward with the task of cataloging wild flowers on the grounds. I assume she worried that the child's exuberant curiosity might lead to a problem inside the lab.
As we were beginning to catalog the objects in the lab, Miss Chigwidgeon knocked over a group of the hutches, releasing several dozen of the rodents. During the ensuing scramble to seal doors and round up the animals, Lt. Wooster wound up inside the green house, apparently having chased two or three of the creatures inside.
He did not come out. Miss Sinclair went after him. When she dragged Wooster out, he was crying and babbling strangely. It seems that there is an enormous plant whose perfume, Miss Sinclair theorizes, induces hallucinations. She says the plant is related to the Sundew, which survives by trapping and digesting insects. Miss Sinclair said she saw evidence that the plant might have swallowed one of the guinea pigs.
I have heard stories of the love-in-mist vine in the jungles back home, which is said to traps and consumes insects, small lizards, and even mice and birds. Perhaps this plant is similar.
As we continued to gather rodents and return
them to cages, Miss Chigwidgeon seemed to become distracted, and
then fainted, suddenly. When she was revived, she said that she
had noticed several of the guinea pigs in the hutches nearest
the window looking into the greenhouse had all been staring intently
into the room. When she had peered inside, she had seen two of
the missing guinea pigs near the large plant. The plant, as if
sensing the proximity of the rodents, had begun rhythmically waving
its stems and vines.
Miss Sinclair believed that the plants' movements had a mesmerizing
effect on those watching. I was thinking the same thing, but was
uncertain that any of the would believe me if I suggested it.
It was decided to place warning signs on all doors to the greenhouse and to lock them securely. Mr. Cuthbert went looking for a machete or similar tool to deal with the plant, if necessary. When he returned, he said that Mortimer, who I am given to understand is a mentally unbalanced member of the Baron's family who is employed by Dr. Wilson, was building explosives in the tool shed. Dr. Wilson went to deal with him. Miss Whitnell found a key in near one of the doors. When she brought it back to the lab, the monkey in the cage labeled with the greek letter kappa became quite frantic.
Miss Whitnell and Mrs. Cuthbert tried to determine what had upset the creature. The monkey eventually began responding to questions as if it could understand. They became convinced that the monkey which was missing from the cage marked with the greek letter lambda had released itself, taken the guy, and vanished into the green house. Miss Sinclair had become involved in the communication attempts, and it was decided that a mission to rescue the missing creatures from the greenhouse should be mounted.
Sir Cosmo, Mr. Cuthbert, and I all volunteered to go inside. Miss Sinclair and Miss Whitnell became adamant that it should be some of the women, with ropes attached to them should be the ones to go in. The reasoning was that they weighed less than us, and would be more easily dragged out of the room with the ropes should they be overcome by the fumes of the plants.
Rather elaborate precautions were taken. All of us who were serving as anchors wrapped cloths scented with camphor oil around our mouths and noses. The two ladies wore similar masks, as well as hats with veils, very thick gloves, and lab aprons.
Perhaps because the plant had been disturbed earlier, the perfume that came out of the green house when we opened the door seemed even stronger. There is no denying that when one of the ladies got near enough to the plant to brush against its leaves, the plant began to move.
It is a strange plant. It is situated in the center of a box. The box is thirty feet wide, about the same distance long, and stands nearly three feet tall. It is filled with peat or loam which is kept soggy, apparently by an elaborate system of pipes. There seems to be a central root, out of which 15 to 20 long vines grow in different directions. Here and there along the length of the plant are clumps of long, feathery leaves. Rising from each clump is a single, slender stem, topped by one intensely pink flower. A few of the stem have buds that have not yet opened. The flowers are small, the longest petal only as long as a man's finger.
There was no denying that the plant began to move whenever one of the ladies happened to brush against on of it's outflung vines, or even just disturbed the air near one of the feathery leaves. The perfume also became stronger, seeming to overpower even the smell of the camphor. I felt flushed, as if the room had become warmer, and I became distressingly aware of how close Miss Chigwidgeon was. It was then that I realized that the flowers were disturbingly shaped like yoni.
I understood then what path the plant's power took to enslave the minds of its prey. I began reciting silently the mantra of the swan who embodies knowledge. As I hoped, the mantra helped me find the poison where it was entering my body through my breath, and to isolate it. The emotions which had burned within me were contained.
The search yielded the two guinea pigs. Miss Sinclair also found evidence that the missing monkey had already been consumed by the plant. The ladies exited the greenhouse and we once again locked the door.
Dr. Wilson had returned with two large carpet bags full of explosives and chemicals. He had escorted Mortimer into the house and suggested strongly to the servants that more care supervising him was in order. He pointed out that Mortimer seemed to be obsessed with a local government official who had recently been mentioned in the newspaper.
There then ensued a long discussion about how the plant might be dealt with and what could be done about Mortimer, which continued as we ate lunch and even while several members of the household went to the kennel to examine some of the other dogs.
Owen introduced us to his mother. She is very sick. Miss Sinclair suspects cancers. Mrs. Cuthbert used her knowledge of healing art to alleviate the animal's pain, somewhat. I fear, somehow, that her illness may be due to some experiments performed by the Baron. I wonder how many of the other creatures are also ill in such ways.
When began the midday meal, Sir Cosmo sent Owen to retrieve Edward. Before Edward came back, one of the many members of the Baron's family came out and asked some unusual questions. He seemed worried or perhaps guilt-ridden. After he left, Mrs. Cuthbert speculated that he may have been involved in something illegal, perhaps related to the Baron's work, perhaps to the lab assistant, and was worried that those activities would come to light. The others agreed his behavior was suspicious.
Edward arrived back eventually. He had wandered quite far afield and had collected a large number of flower samples. Sometime after he returned, Sir Cosmo began asking questions. Mortimer's actions and those of the other relative, a Mr. Perthwaite, had made him suspicious enough to ask the servants some questions.
It appears that Mr. Perthwaite has been encouraging Mortimer's delusions about agents of the polish government. As Sir Cosmo and the others began assembling the facts, Edward mentioned a conversation he had overheard while he was out in the fields. It seems that someone in the district has been keeping their marriage a secret, although at least two other people know enough to be arguing about it. This reminded Miss Sinclair that she had seen two men, Mr. Perthwaite and a servant of one of the neighboring landowners, discussing someone who was out of town, but expected back soon.
Mrs. Cuthbert and Miss Sinclair went off to find Miss Glossop, another relative of the Baron who apparently draws elaborate pictures of her family tree. Their questions yielded the identity of one of the people Edward heard arguing: Hob Birtwhistle, a groundskeeper employed by Dr. Deeming. His daughter, Clara, has recently been promoted from scullery maid to chambermaid. And she is temporarily away, in London.
The discussion became even more intense, and eventually a disturbing possibility was raised: was possible that Clara Birtwhistle was secretly married to Paolo, the Baron's assistant who everyone had believed was his illegitimate grandson, but that the police had determined was actually a legitimate heir? If so, and if she were expecting a son, then the unborn child would be the rightful heir to all of the Baron's holdings.
All of the daughters and grandchildren (and their wives) would inherit nothing.
Miss Whitnell wanted to go, immediately, to Liverpool to interrogate this government official whom Mortimer is obsessed with. Among other things, he is in charge of recording marriages in the county. I agreed to drive Miss Whitnell into town.
As we were getting into one of the carriages, we overheard a disturbance in the stable. It seems that Mortimer and taken one of the small carts. He had loaded a large box in the cart, and drive away very quickly. No one, it seems, had told the stable boys that Mortimer was not to be allowed to leave the premises.
Miss Whitnell sent the stable boys to inform Sir Cosmo of this disaster. We followed Mortimer, driving the horses hard in hopes of catching him before he hurts anyone with his bombs.
It is ironic that I, who was raised to be an agent of destruction in service of Kali against the forces of English Law, am now rushing down a road to prevent someone from killing a clerk within the English Government and destroying a building full of records.
Proceed to Graves' diary: A Grim Business
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