Saturday, 7 January 1871
I thought it would be a simple job. Wilhelmina has been upset for days about this business with the Hornsea Post. It's the local weekly newspaper, and not a very large or exciting one, let me add. They've been running articles about Sir Cosmo. Specifically about that terrible train explosion in '51.
As I understand it, none of the facts in the articles are untrue. The explosion happened. A lot of people died. The explosion was caused by those batteries Cosmo invented. There were inquests, and it was determined at all of them that the explosion was an unforeseeable accident.
The newspaper articles don't actually disagree with the inquest, they just raise questions to imply that maybe the inquests were rigged. The articles dwell on some facts more than others to make things look as unfavourable as possible for Cosmo. Wilhelmina was determined to do something about the problem.
And so Edward came up with a plan. The Post can't publish if its printing press stops working. At least not until the press can be repaired, and by that time Sir Cosmo and Miss Chigwidgeon would be married and safely away on their honeymoon.
So when Sir Spencer, Lt. Wooster, and Mr. O'Flaherty wanted to go to the pub in town, Edward asked to go along as the driver. He told Cosmo he was craving fish and chips for dinner, and the only chips stand for miles and miles is in Hornsea. I was sent along to look after everyone.
So, once the gentlemen were in the pub and we'd finished our fish and chips, Edward had me park at the end of the alley where I could watch the back door of the Post and keep an eye on the pub.
We had done a brief scouting beforehand. I was quite certain no one was inside the rooms in question. The lock on the back door must have been an old one, because Edward only took a second to pick it and slip in.
He wasn't inside nearly as long as I expected, and there hadn't been any of the banging noises I'd feared. When he came running out it was obvious something was terribly wrong. He explained to me, quickly in Hindi, that someone had been murdered inside the room. He believed murder had been down with an etheric pulse weapon. The body was already going cold and stiff, so it had probably happened hours before, but it was possible that the killer was still hanging about with the gun.
We knew that someone had killed a man in London the day before and was trying to frame Sir Cosmo. This seemed too much a conincidence not to be related. I thought we should gather the gentlemen up right away and head back as fast as we could drive the horses to the Manor. Edward pointed out that Mr. O'Flaherty had already had a bit of a scuffle in the pub, so we weren't likely to extract them quickly. Edward wanted to go back to the manor by himself while I kept watch over the men.
I started to argue.
But Wilhelmina gave me the look. I immediately knew what would happen. If I tried to round up the gentlemen, she would head off on her own while I was busy with them. If I abandoned the gentlemen and tried to follow her, she'd get angry and try to send me back. And the problem is she's gotten a bit too good at her studies. I can still take her, if I have to, but I can't do it without damaging one of us.
Besides, she was right. Someone had to look after the gentlemen. Who knows what kind of trouble they might get into otherwise?
Well, I found out. Edward had been out of my sight no more than five minutes when the whole mob came out of the pub, intent on going out to the pikeys camp. And Mr. O'Flaherty and the others were right in the middle of it, of course. Seems that One-Punch O'Neill was travelling with this band of pikeys, and Mr. O'Flaherty had never heard of him. They were going to try to arrang a boxing match.
So we get out there to the camp--which was a collection of wagons parked in a meadow north of town. It took a bit of negotiation, but the fight was agreed to. Sir Spencer and Lt. Wooster were covering all kinds of crazy bets. And both the pikeys and the locals from the pub were getting quite excited.
I'd never seen One-Punch before. Heard of him, of course. Couldn't hang around the old gangs without hearing some stories. I'd expected him to be different, somehow. He's a bit short for an irishmen, and skinny, though his muscle tone was good. From all the stories I guess I'd expected him to have an aura like Salmalin's. He didn't. He just looked like a man who did a lot of physical labour.
The fight got started. O'Neill danced around, trying a few feints. Mr. O'Flaherty landed some good punches, but O'Neill just flowed with them, just like the Reed in the Wind technique. He was going to be a very difficult opponent to put down. Then Mr. O'Flaherty did a very foolish thing. He insulted O'Neill's mother.
That's when I saw it. Something that had been hiding deep down in O'Neill's soul came out and just poured into his fist. If that next punch had been aimed at a block of granite, the granite would have shattered into pieces. O'Flaherty barely avoided being hit. He landed another couple of punches.
Then O'Neill connected. The force of the punch lifted O'Flaherty off the ground and threw him backwards a good three yards. For a moment I was afraid Mr. O'Flaherty was dead. Fortunately he's got his own hidden strengths. He wasn't killed, but he was out cold.
O'Neill wasn't exactly in great shape himself, he wasn't just staggering around because of all the ale he'd drank earlier. Mr. O'Flaherty had dished out a good deal of punishment. But One-Punch was the one left standing.
Sir Spencer and Lt. Wooster had to pay out their bets. Mr. Caine helped me get Mr. O'Flaherty into the carriage. Somehow or other, Wooster had purchased a terrier from the pikeys. We passed a constable on a bicycle on the road back to the manor. He didn't seem interested in us, but I suspected it wasn't just another coincidence.
There was quite a commotion at the house. Edward had arrived safely and delivered the news. Mr. Frazer had taken Edward's statement and was preparing to go into town when Constable Oakes arrived at the back door. The dead body had been found. The local police wanted Mr. Frazer to assist in examining the scene.
Mr. and Mrs. Frazer accompanied Constable Oakes back into town in another of Lord Greyminster's carriages. I had been otherwise engaged helping Salmalin carry Mr. O'Flaherty to his room upstairs (where Mrs. Cuthbert set about healing him), then answering questions from Salmalin and Sir Cosmo about what had happened in town. I finally got to hear more details of what Edward found inside the offices of the Post.
Mr. Jokking, the publisher and editor, lay dead beside the printing press. Lead type was scattered around the floor, as if a typeset page had been dropped when he was shot. Edward also found a proof sheet of part of the front page of the next edition. It consists mainly of a interview with two widows about how their lives were ruined by the explosion of Cosmo's train in '51. Edward recognized the scent left in the air by the etheric pulse gun, and noticed the characteristic wounds on the wrists of the body.
The Frazers returned to the manor. They found the scene much as Edward described. There were several things they noticed which Edward missed. First, it looked as if Edward had trod in some ink and left his own footprint on the floor near the body. Edward doesn't remember stepping in any ink, but it is possible. The murder occured sometime in mid-afternoon. This was verified by interviewing two other employees of the Post.
Mr. Frazer believes that whoever the killer was, they used the press to create the proof page Edward found. They did this after killing Mr. Jokking, then planted the proof sheet and the dropped the typesetting themselves. They also found some scraps of cloth which they believe to be from widow's togs and a veil.
When Mr. and Mrs. Frazer were interviewing Mr. Jokking's assistant, they were interrupted by the arrival of Mrs. Ahrweej. She has visited the manor before, and is an old acquaintance of Mrs. Cuthbert's. She is also a medium. I only got a brief look at her when she visited months ago, and can only say that she has some mystical abilities.
She had come to offer condolences and made something of a scene. For some reason when anyone talks about her in the presence of Mrs. Cuthbert, Mrs. Cuthbert begins acting strangely, holding her forehead as if she is feeling unwell, shuddering, and even blushing.
The Frazers (and most of the rest of the household) decided to turn in for the night. Mrs. Cuthbert and Miss Whitnell were going to attempt a scrying ritual, to see if they could learn more about the murderer.
Not long after they started, they came downstairs and called for a carriage. We hitched up another set of horses and I took them into town as quickly as possible. They said that Mrs. Ahrweej had been performing a cleansing ritual at the murder scene, which was making it impossible for them to learn anything new through magick.
They thought, perhaps, that they could undo the cleansing ritual at the scene. It did not work. They both were quite annoyed for the trip back to the manor.
The house is quiet now. Dawn is not that far away. Salmalin and I are not the only ones awake. Sir Cosmo has been pacing in his room all night. Lord Greyminster has also been up several times to stare out the window of his room.
Sunday, 8 January, 1871
The household was up for breakfast, several members much earlier than usual. Since this morning would be the final reading of the banns for Sir Cosmo and Miss Chigwidgeon, they went in to church along with Miss Whitnell and Mrs. Cuthbert. I think Edward only went along so he would be in a position to kosh anyone who spoke up against the banns.
There was some bit of confusion at breakfast. Mrs. Frazer decided to try the kippers (usually she avoids that end of the buffet at all costs) and apparently regretted the decision, because she suddenly fled the room, followed closely by her husband.
When we returned, Mrs. Cuthbert and Miss Whitnell looked in on her. Moments later Miss Whitnell came back down to the dining room with Mr. Frazer. He seemed very distracted. Not long after, Mrs. Cuthbert and Mrs. Frazer joined the rest of the household at lunch.
They talked more about the murder what had happened since. There really wasn't any new information.
Insp. MacGreggor arrived on the afternoon train. We had been expecting him, though I daresay he hadn't expected us to present him with a second murder. We learned quite a bit more about the death in London.
Mr. Wroth, a member of the Naturalist Society who was a sponsor of Mrs. Frazer's moth paper, had demanded to meet with Sir Cosmo. He felt he had been tricked by Sir Cosmo into sponsoring the paper, and he was threatening somehow to have Sir Cosmo kicked out of the society.
Later I asked Wilhelmina to explain this to me and her explanation didn't really help. The Naturalist Society is a kind of club made up of clever people who like to study animals and plants and the like. Mrs. Frazer's paper is a very good study of moths, and seems to be cleverly done. Certainly most people at the reading were talking favourably about it. Wilhelmina says that Mr. Wroth and Sir Cosmo have a long-standing disagreement about whether nerves or secretions are the primary control of what happens inside a body. This disagreement has reached the point where Mr. Wroth will disagree with an idea simply because he knows Sir Cosmo has endorsed it.
So somehow Sir Cosmo led him to believe that he was going to oppose Mrs. Frazer's paper. Which made Mr. Wroth anxious to support it.
So if I followed the explanation correctly, Mr. Wroth wants Sir Cosmo kicked out of the clever club for being more clever than him. Which makes no sense to me at all.
Wilhelmina assures me that I've understood the situation rightly, and that it doesn't make sense, but it doesn't matter. Because the wooly-headed members of the Society will think it does make sense and believe that someone might be willing to commit murder over it.
Sir Cosmo went to the meeting while the rest of us were packing for the trip here from London. He took a Hansom to the meeting, since all the household carriages were engaged. The meeting did not go well. Sir Cosmo left with the definite impression that Wroth was angry and would make good his threats.
Except he didn't live long after Sir Cosmo left. He was found, locked inside his study, dead of strychnine poisoning. The Wroth family summoned the police and expressed their firm suspicion that Sir Cosmo had poisoned Mr. Wroth before leaving the house.
Insp. MacGreggor was put on the case because he already is familiar with the League's other work and isn't going to be distracted by it from the actual case. The case, though not conclusive, is worrisome.
No one saw Mr. Wroth alive after Sir Cosmo left the room. There is no sign anyone else entered the room. Some strychnine is missing from Sir Cosmo's laboratory. A syringe, which could have been used to carry the strychnine into the house, is missing from the lab stores. A similar syringe was found at the train station in a place where a witness claimed to see Sir Cosmo disposing of something.
Which is suspicious, but also seems very fair-fetched. I can't imagine even Insp. Lestrade falling for such a sloppy frame-up.
I learned a bit more of what Mrs. Cuthbert discovered last night before things were messed up by Mrs. Earwig (I found out today that's how the name is spelled; which doesn't look a think like she pronounces it!). They saw someone enter the printing office in the late afternoon, shoot Mr. Jokking, assemble the type, and run the press. Just as Mr. and Mrs. Frazer had concluded. The problem was that they couldn't see the murderer. He or she must be a mage, or have the assistance of a mage who is casting protective magicks for him. In one of her attempts to get around this blocking magic, Mrs. Cuthbert saw part of the incident through the eyes of the baker (whose shop is next door).
Unfortunately, the baker has a very clear memory of Sir Cosmo coming to the office and then leaving it sometime later.
Also, unfortunately, Sir Cosmo was out that afternoon making calls on some of the locals, and could easily have taken an unscheduled detour into Hornsea.
After hearing all of this, Insp. MacGreggor and Mr. Frazer went into town to meet with the doctor who examined the body, and to speak to other witnesses.
Edward spent the afternoon working on Miss Chigwidgeon's wedding present. I was helping. It was during this interval that I asked for the explanation about the Mr. Wroth thing.
Mrs. Frazer arrived at the smithy somewhat upset and demanded that Edward come inside to explain some things. He was at a bit of a delecate moment with the brass, but we got things put away and went in.
The trouble was caused by one of the salamanders. Edward has been fiddling with dead salamanders for months, trying various concoctions, applying different voltages--ever since he and Sir Cosmo found out about Sir Charles Fernly's son, Humphrey. Although Miss Whitnell knew something about the experiements, the full story hadn't been told to everyone.
Wooster's dog found one of the salamanders in the garden. And bit it nearly in two, which didn't kill it, obviously, since it isn't really alive. This brought everything to Mrs. Frazer's attention, and she brought it to Sir Cosmo's attention, and then there had to be a general meeting. Sir Cosmo explained the whole situation to everyone, including his efforts to try to provide a plausible way for Humphrey to go on after his father dies.
Edward swears that none of the experiments worked. Certainly none of the ones I've seen have. And he has been performing them in London, not Goxhill. So it is quite a puzzle where it came from.
Sir Cosmo pointed out that the species is native to England and has been studied by many naturalists, including Sir Charles. It's possible that it is simply one of his early experiments gotten loose.
Insp. MacGreggor and Mr. Frazer returned from their interview with the doctor. The doctor found the other signs of the etheric pulse gun, and has recognized the similarities to death by lightning stroke. Until this time, the head of the local police, Constable Boles, had been referring to Mr. Jokking's death as simply unexplained. Now, since there was sign of lightning striking the building (and no storm that day), the possibility that he was electrocuted artificially has been raised.
This could make the salamander's sudden appearance more sinister. It is possible that the murderer of Mr. Jokking, who possesses an etheric pulse gun, also knows about Sir Charles' experiments, and has intentionally let the creature loose, or even duplicated the process, for the express purpose of confusing the issue further. If people found out that Edward has been performing these experiments with Sir Cosmo's approval, that might leap to the conclusion that Mr. Jokking's electrocution was caused by a similar electical device.
Again, it seems just a bit far-fetched, but nothing about these two deaths has been straightforward.
Mrs. Cuthbert decided we needed to try to find the mysterious person in mourning complete with concealing veil. It is possible that she is the new patient who has taken up residence in Sir Charles' house. Rather than guess, Mrs. Cuthbert used the scraps of cloth the Frazer's found to work another of her divining rituals.
She announced that the widow was east of us, possible near Sir Charles' estate. The carriages were summoned, and the entire League set out.
We had only gotten a mile down the road when Mrs. Cuthbert signalled a halt from her carriage. Now her divining pendulum said the owner of the dress was northeast of us, perhaps north of Hornsea, in the vicinity of the pikey camp.We turned up the Hornsea Road, and were nearly to the encampment when she signalled another halt. We had passed the widow by. She was slightly south of us, and west.
We continued in this manner until we found ourselves at the gate of Thorpe House. Thorpe House is the home of Mr. Andrew Earwig, Esq. It is on the "horn" which is a small pennisula extending into the Mere from the city end. Mrs. Cuthbert was quite certain that our mysterious veiled woman was in the house.
While Mrs. Cuthbert could expect a warm welcome from Mrs. Earwig, Sir Cosmo is another situation altogether. Mr. Earwig was the former investor and president of the defunct Hornsea Rail Company. Which was going bankrupt for various reasons. Mr. Earwig was the person who insisted on building the train station right on the beach, which has already led to several problems.
Sir Cosmo and Mr. Balderstoke bought out Mr. Earwig's other investors some years ago, and finally bought out Mr. Earwig a few years later, merging the Hornsea Rail Company into the B & C Great Locomotive Company. They are working to build a new station at a more stable location and have made other changes to make the railway.
Mr. Earwig dislikes Sir Cosmo for this. Again, I don't know why, exactly. Wilhelmina told me the whole story some months ago, complete with imitations of Mr. Balderstoke's comments about the eroding sand under the last mile of tracks and so forth. It sounds to me as if Sir Cosmo and Mr. Balderstoke saved Mr. Earwig from further financial disaster. So why is he angry at them?
I think I need to ask for explanations from someone other than Wilhelmina on these things. Perhaps Mr. Caine will be able to shed some light on the subject.
It was finally decided that Mrs. Cuthbert, Mrs. Frazer, Insp. MacGreggor, and Miss Whitnell would ride up to the door in one carriage and give the excuse that they are returning Mrs. Earwig's earlier visit, and coming to introduce Insp. MacGreggor to the Earwigs. MacGreggor could then ask some questions about Mr. Jokking (Mr. Earwig owns the building where the Post was produced; he was Mr. Jokking's landlord). The rest of the League would wait at the road. Mr. Frazer was to wait in the carriage with me, and could be sent for if any evidence turned up. And everyone else could be sent for if an actual battle broke out.
So we went. The house had some odd mystical vibrations to it, though nothing terribly different that Mrs. Cuthbert's home, or any place we stay once Miss Whitnell puts up her wards.
We heard some odd noises from the house, and Miss Whitnell came out to fetch Mr. Frazer. One of the footmen had been found dead downstairs. I was sent out to inform the others.
I learned all the details later. Mrs. Earwig had been holding a seance when the others arrived. In addition to Mr. Earwig, their grown son and his wife, and their two grown daughters, they had two guests. A widowed Baroness and the Baroness' daughter.
They were all making small talk and attempted to get useful information from the guests when a scream came from downstairs. A scullery maid had opened a closet, and the footman's dead body had fallen out. Insp. MacGreggor, Mrs. Cuthbert, Miss Whitnell, and Mr. and Mrs. Earwig all rushed to investigate. Mrs. Frazer stayed to watch the Baroness and the three unmarried girls.
While Insp. MacGreggor examined the scene, Miss Whitnell came out to get Mr. Frazer. Mr. Frazer joined the others in the downstairs. Miss Whitnell started upstairs to inform the guests as to what was happening. She blacked out. When she regained her senses, she was standing in Mr. Earwig's office in front of his liquor cabinet, with a bottle of poison in her hand. She went into a bit of a panic, as she didn't know how she had gotten there and whether or not she had poisoned any of the bottles.
Meanwhile, MacGreggor and Frazer had determined that the footman had been strangled, in the classic thuggee fashion. They also determined that the actually murder had occurred in the ironing room, where they found evidence that someone had climbed in the window. The footman had an exceptionally large amount of cash in his pocket.
I must stop this narrative and just say that this is the part that makes the least sense. I can understand bribing a servant for information and access to the house. I can understand killing him when he is no longer useful. But only the most inexperienced apprentice would not remember to take back the bribe! If there is time to hide the body neatly in a closet, there is time to take back the lolly.
Mrs. Frazer and Mrs. Cuthbert had located the panicked Miss Whitnell by this point, and concluded that no poison had actually been put in any of the bottles. Mrs. Frazer took custody of the poison bottle to turn over to her husband, but when the ladies arrived back downstairs, that bottle was missing.
It was clear to them by this point that someone with very powerful magickal abilities was toying with them all. They convinced the Earwigs that everyone should leave the house. Insp. MacGreggor said he would return with the Constables and the doctor and deal with the body.
While all of this was happening, Edward, Miss Bertilde, and Salmalin had been patrolling along the fence, on the assumption that the killer might still be on the grounds and trying to exit the estate. What they found was Lt. Wooster's dog. Except, Salmalin said, the dog was possessed by an unfamiliar spirit. Salmalin knocked the dog unconscious, and the spirit fled.
We all returned to the manor.
Mrs. Cuthbert, Miss Whitnell, Miss Chigwidgeon, and Mr. O'Flaherty decided to have a seance and try to summon the spirit of poor murdered Mr. Jokking to see if he could identify his killer. They didn't quite succeed. A spirit arrived, possessed Mr. O'Flaherty, and claimed to be Mr. Jokking, but Mrs. Cuthbert soon realized it was the living spirit of someone trying to deceive them. They attempted to bind the spirit, but it fled.
Now while this was happening, an visitor arrived at the manor. She seemed to just melt out of the shadows while I was patrolling around the house. It's very startling to confront a sorceress so unexpectedly. She was a plumb, grey haired woman dressed in dark, somewhat mismatched clothes. She smiled at me and introduced herself as Nanny Chigwidgeon. She said she was here for her Great-granddaughter's wedding, and that she didn't want to cause any trouble.
I was stunned. But before I could think of what to do or say, she was gone again.
Apparently she walked into the seance just as it was ending. She introduced herself, commented on what they were doing, and then started talking with Miss Chigwidgeon.
Meanwhile, Mr. O'Flaherty brief possession left him with the overwhelming conviction that someone was going to ambush and kill One-Punch O'Neill. And so, we were into the carriages again, and off like a shot. It wasn't the entire League, this time. Mr O'Flaherty, Insp. MacGregor, Edward, Lt Wooster, Mrs Cuthbert, Emily and myself made up the party.
We arrived at the meadow to find one of the wagons on fire. There was a small group of injured people to one side. But most everyone was focused on One-Punch. He was beating up all the other men of his clan. Or at least trying awfully hard. I could see something strange going on with his aura. He looked as if he might be possessed.
One of the elder women of the clan was in the middle of chanting a spell, so Mrs. Cuthbert ran to her aid. Mr. O'Flaherty jumped in, as did I, MacGreggor, and well, everyone. Whatever was controlling One-Punch had access to his unusual strength. Someone would be seriously injured if he couldn't be subdued.
We didn't want to hurt him, but we had seen that he could take a lot of punishment. O'Flaherty managed to punch him several times. MacGreggor got hold of him and tried to restrain him. The spirit leapt from One-Punch.
I blacked out. It had taken me. And I recognized the spirit.
It was Master Tandu. His presence was unmistakeable. But it was also wrong. When I had studied under him, he had always been in control of his emotions. He was precise, calculating, and always rational. Now we a storm of emotions. He was enraged. He was enraptured.
I fought, but I don't know if I actually knocked him out, or if it was something the others did. I came to my senses after being knocked off my feet.
One-Punch was staggering, somewhat dazed, but trying to coordinate with O'Flaherty.
They were facing MacGreggor. Master Tandu taunted them through MacGreggor's voice. He was playing with them. Feinting and dodging and leaping and almost letting them hit him. I called out a warning and leaped at him. I focused my strength on the Mantra of the Swan of Knowledge, hoping I could cleanse MacGreggor.
Tandu caught me and tossed me toward the flaming wagon with ease. I yelled out again that it was Master Tandu, that he was more dangerous than the realized. I tried to shift to the Mantra of the Flowing Tide.
Edward leapt up and collided with me in midair. We went down in a tangle, missing the flaming wagon. I didn't have time to properly scold him.
Tandu had broken O'Flaherty's arm. It's a miracle he hadn't torn it out at the socket. He certainly had been contemplating it.
Mrs. Cuthbert and the elder woman cast another spell. Tandu was forced out of MacGreggor. Edward staggered and started yelling in a very un-Edward manner. I could see Tandu's spirit hovering over him. I grabbed him, started the Swan of Knowledge again.
The elder woman cast a different spell. It was stronger, wilder than the previous ones. And it drove Master Tandu completely away.
It also almost killed her. She collapsed, her life force just a faint glow. Mrs. Cuthbert revived her as must as she could. But there were so many wounded and injured.
We can only deduce that Master Tandu intended to kill One-Punch or some of his clan, and make it look as if Mr. O'Flaherty or Sir Cosmo had arranged it. He either didn't count on the pikeys having a sorceress in their midsts, or didn't expect his ally (the spirit that possessed O'Flaherty during the seance) to tip us off.
We don't know if the spirit intentionally left Mr. O'Flaherty with the knowledge. If it was intentional, does this mean that he is acting under coercion?
I don't know. At least now I begin to understand why so much about these deaths has made so little sense. Master Tandu is quite mad. That makes him unpredictable and even more dangerous.
Even more troubling is that he clearly still possesses all the secret arts he commanded a master of the thuggees despite this insanity. I had not thought one could remain on the path of transcendence while in the grip of madness.
I should have been more prepared for this. When the ghost of Jerrold Moriarty came to me last year and set me on the mission to protect Wilhelmina, he warned me that I could no longer trust Master Tandu. It was one thing to consider that idea in the abstract. It is another altogether to feel it in my bones.
I fear the worst is yet to come.
Proceed to 2. Host and Hostility
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