It isn't maths
Excerpts
from
the
journal
of
Mr
Raavi
Salmalin, footman in the household of Sir
Cosmo Cowperthwaite
Sunday, 12 March, 1876
We have completed packing for the household's trip to the MacGregor's
home in Uffington. Octavia seemed disappointed when I explained that
the natives of Uffington speak English and that we will not be required
to cross an ocean to get there.
Monday, 13 March, 1876
Our journey was without incident. His lordship had his private railcars
sent to Edenfield for our use, as he, Wilhelmina, and Miss Pinker were
travelling directly from London. Tattvick noted that with all the
children, the railcars no longer seem large.
Lt Wooster and Mr Caine were supposed to be at sea while we were away.
However, their captured a group of smugglers, who had to be brought
back to port to be turned over to the authorities. Now the ship
requires re-provisioning. Mrs Wooster was pleased to see her husband,
but clearly would have preferred that his accordion had remained aboard
HMS Sorceress.
We debarked at Oxford General Station, where Lady MacGregor awaited us.
It took several trips with both their carriages to get everyone to the
estate. The MacGregor's home is nearly 15 miles from the town of
Oxford, and has extensive grounds.
We spent the day unpacking and becoming familar with grounds. Mr
O'Flaherty was not coming by train, because he had heard Lady MacGregor
worrying about having enough carriages, and had decided to drive his
own from Snodsbury. He encountered some problems along the way, and did
not arrive until well after dinner.
Tuesday, 14 March, 1876
Today the ladies and gentlemen were guests at a tea party at the home
of Professor Maples. The party was in honour of Wilhelmina's cousin, Mr
James Moriarty, who is at Oxford temporarily to give a series of
lectures. There is some controversy attached to his work, which
Wilhelmina went into great detail to explain.
I can't say that I understand what the fuss is about. Perhaps it is a
maths issue.
Before we departed, Lady MacGregor and Miss Pinker explained the
ranking system among university teachers and how this affects their
social standing. Mrs Wooster and her ladyship became muddled. Of
course, Mrs Wooster has been having difficulty adjusting to the new
forms of address for several members of the household, refering to Lord
Cuthbert as "Lord Sir Spenser," for instance, and asking whether she
should say a second "sir" since he has two knighthoods.
When we arrived at the house on Norham Gardens Road, Mr O'Flaherty
recognized one of the servants: Mr Jimmy Maws, the former boxer. Mr
Maws is employed by Mr Moriarty as his valet and gentleman's gentleman.
Her ladyship was not quite prepared for the large number of people who
wished to be introduced to her. Miss Pinker had warned her that as Lord
Cowperthwaite is now a Baron, many people who before might have been
merely polite when meeting the wife of an infamously eccentric Baronet
might behave much differently when meeting a Baroness.
The party itself seemed to go well until the incident with the rose
trellises. There were several trellises, of varying heights. Many of
them are attached to each other, and the tallest is attached the the
rear wall of the house. The rose vines have been allowed to grow and
intertwine for years, further connecting the structures so that that
form several walls dividing the garden.
Her ladyship's attention had been caught by an arguement between two of
the guests. One was the Reverend Summerfield, and the other was the
husband of Summerfield's niece, a Mr Mark Cole. The argument was about
money and other assistance which Summerfield was withholding from the
nephew. Her ladyship attempted to get closer look as the argument wound
down, when the hem of her dress became entangled. Lieutenant Wooster
and I were each attempting to assist when her ladyship gave the dress
and firm yank.
A section of the nearest trellis broke loose, along with several rose
canes. Mrs Frazer noted later that someone had quite recently bent
several of the rose branches back and wove them into the trellis,
putting a great deal of tension on the entire structure.
The section in question flew across the lawn, striking one of the
Lecturers (or perhaps it was the Dean), which knocked him off balance
so that he sent several other people standing nearby tumbling. One of
them must have fallen against one of the refreshement tables, which
sent the punch bowl flying to land on another Lecturer or Professor.
The rest of the trellises were falling over by this point. Her ladyship
yelled out a warning, which was delivered in the Voice of the Goddess.
Her ladyship not being in immediate danger, I was moving to catch the
trellis. Mr O'Flaherty and Mr Maws had the same idea, and between all
of us, we caught the structure.
The Lieutenant made a loud apology, taking the blame for the accident.
Lady MacGregor and Mrs Cuthbert were already assessing the extend of
injuries to the wounded. Mrs Maples ushered the rest of her guests
inside. Lord Cowperthwaite, Lord Cuthbert, and Mr Moriarty took charge
of getting the trellis raised and more securely attached to the house,
with several of the more engineering minding students and Fellows
assisting.
Her ladyship had gone inside, and noticed that Reverend Summerfield was
sitting alone, as if none of the party goers wished to share his
company. She took this opportunity to speak with him, in hopes of
finding out more about the disagreement between he and his neices'
husband.
We left the party later the most of the attendees, as their lordships
were still busy with the trellises for some time.
When we arrived at the MacGregors', we found most everyone gathered in
the North Drawing Room, which Mrs Wooster and Lady MacGregor had
earlier designated the Safe Room because it has no windows, and the
most defensible doors.
They were gathered there because Master Galen had heard his mother
using the Voice, and had alerted everyone. Baby Rupert complicated
things by going on one of his explorations, again, sometime before
this. He was discovered asleep inside Mrs Wooster's weapons case.
Dinner was a quiet affair.
Wednesday, 15 March
Most of the household spent much of the day in the city of Oxford. Miss
Moriarty wished to visit several of the libraries. Her ladyship was
more interested in learning why Reverend Summerfield, who apparently
had shown great promise when he was a student, and is a frequent
contributor to the scientific journals, is so disliked by everyone at
the University. She was equally interested in the issue between he and
his neice's husband.
Mrs MacGregor, Sir Simon's mother, was able to shed some light on the
situation. When Reverend Summerfield was a student at Oxford, he had
aspired to become a lecturer or possibly professor. However, one must
first spend a number of years studying and teaching as a Fellow. Most
fellowships are not paying positions. If a Fellow does not have money
from another source, such as an allowance from his family, he must also
obtain one of the paid Tutoring or Assistant Teaching positions. Most
of those are awarded through a vote of the existing fellows. Academic
acheivment is not the only qualification. Summerfield believed he was
rejected because he was unliked, rather than being undeserving.
He had to settle for a position as an assistant parish priest, which
eventually led to his position as Vicar in the village of Shawbury.
Shawbury is located far from any of the univerities or colleges or any
other scholarly organization.
In the meantime, his younger sister married and had a daughter, Lucinda
Waring. The sister and her husband died when the Miss Lucinda was a
child. The Reverend Summerfield became her guardian, and was named the
sole trustee of her inheritance. When Mr Mark Cole began courting Miss
Licinda, Reverend Summerfield gave his bessing for them to marry. He
refused to increase her allowance from the trust after the marriage, or
to give Mr Cole access to any of the funds. Mrs MacGregor believes that
Rev. Summerfield believes that since he received no helping hand at
that age, that no one else should, either. Lady MacGregor mentioned it
is also possible that he disapproves of Mr Cole's friendship with some
of the Lecturers that Summerfield holds a grudge against.
The older children are enjoying themselves at the MacGregor estate.
Master Rupert continues to escape the nursery and finding his way into
locked rooms, cupboards, and cases. He found one of the disused rooms
on the upper floor of the north wing of the house, where an
elephant-foot umbrella stand gave him quite a start. Sir Simon said he
had a similar reaction when he was a child. Which is why it's been
stored out of sight for years. The late Squire MacGregor argued with
Simon about it.
It has been another quiet night, with several members of the household
dozing off in the Drawing Room before retiring.
Thursday, 16 March
I understand, now. It isn't maths at all. It's a religious dispute.
The lecture, which Miss Moriarty has been looking forward to for days,
was this evening. Mr James Moriarty explained how a large rock, such as
a planet, could be shattered by the careful application of small
amounts of force again and again. All simple enough.
While asking questions after the lecture, several of those present
became agitated at Mr Moriarty refused to say that only the Christian
god could do such a thing. As the questioners continued to ask the same
thing, slightly rephrased, again and again, Mr Moriarty became less
patient, and eventually compared the Christian god to a superstition.
He refused to apologize or retract the statement. By this point the
affair had become a less-than-polite debate between Mr Moriarty and
Rev. Summerfield. Moriarty disparaged the Christian god a few more
times, including implying that if he did exist, he was dishonest.
His last comment directed at Rev. Summerfield as that Summerfield
should take up the matter directly with his god. Except he managed to
say it in a way that suggested this conversation could only occur if
Summerfield were dead. Which Summerfield took as a threat.
Miss Moriarty is incensed. George says he is merely disappointed that
James Moriarty lost his composure. I pointed out that he seems to have
his uncle's temper.
Friday, 17 March
After most of the families had
retired, Mr O'Flaherty decided to go for a walk. A few hours later,
several members of the household were awakened by a loud sound. It
seemed to be an explosion quite some distance away, though it could
have been a shotgun shot from nearer. While we were searching the
grounds it was discovered that Mr O'Flaherty was still gone.
Sir Simon and few others were preparing to go into in the direction of
the sound, which was toward the city of Oxford, proper. Before everyone
who was preparing to go was fully dressed, an Oxford constable on
horseback arrived at the house, asking to speak to Sir Simon. The
constable reported that there had been some kind of explosion in the
vicinity of Radcliff Infirmary, and that Mr O'Flaherty appeared to be
involved. Furthermore, a dead body had been found nearby, the victim
having died of stab wounds. As Mr O'Flaherty had a sword in his
possession and could not give a coherent account of his situation, he
had been taken into custody.
Sir Simon had a horse saddled and went back to Oxford with the
constable. Most of the rest of the household followed in the various
carriages. By the time we arrived, Mr O'Flaherty was no longer in
custody. The murder victim had been stabbed multiple times with a slim
knife blade not much longer than a man's finger. None of the wounds
could have been made with Mr O'Flaherty's sword.
The loud sound had been an explosion. It had occurred in midair above
the rooftops of the infirmary. Mr O'Flaherty had been at the center of
the explosion, and had landed in a fish pond. Mr O'Flaherty said he had
been walking along, not even quite certain whether he was in Oxford or
in one of the smaller villages nearby, when he saw some sort of flying
device zooming toward the infirmary. He managed to catch hold of the
device, and was surprised when his weight did not seem to slow it. He
did manage to steer it upward, over the building, and was attempting to
find a way to land it safely, when it exploded.
The flying device, according to His lordship and Miss Moriarty, was an
etheric mechanism, powered by autenite. It was the autenite battery
which caused the explosion. His lordship was quite surprised that Mr
O'Flaherty seemed so little hurt, but prescribed immediate treatment
for autenite poisoning. His lordship became intrigued by the pond, as
it seemed the mud in the bottom of the pond may have counteracted some
of the effects of autenite.
The stabbing victim was the Reverend Summerfield. An ebony-handled
folding knife, covered in blood, was found nearby.
While his lordship was busy in the pond, her ladyship followed up on
Miss Moriarty's suspicion of the origin of the flying machine. Two of
the students met at the party earlier in the week had been asking Lord
Cowperthwaite questions about autenite. Wilhelmina suspected the
machine was part of an experiment which had gone awry. Whoever had
launched the machine might have witnessed something related to the
murder, as well.
George remained with his lordship, as Mrs Wooster and I were
accompanying her ladyship and Miss Moriarty. We looked for likely
launch sites. A rather large series of meadows and wooded commons
surrounding the Cricket field seemd a likely location. We proceeded to
Jordan College, where the young men were believed to be resident. Emily
became worried about Wilhelmina being seen entering college residence
halls at night. While her ladyship and Mrs Wooster were disagreeing, I
knocked on the servant's door. The housekeeper ushered us inside and
offered tea while she sent another servant to alert the Dean that
Baroness Cowperthwaite wished to speak with him.
One of the Fellows had caught the two young ment, Mr Fortune and Mr
West, sneaking back into the residence earlier, so the Dean, Reverend
Carruthers, was already aware that there was a problem. After Lady
Cowperthwaite explained the situation, the Dean had the young men
summoned to his office. They confessed to being the designers of the
apparatus, and admitted they had attempted a controlled flight earlier
in the evening.
They had intended to sneak out to the commons around 11:00 to set up
their experiment, but had been delayed because Reverend Summerfield had
been having an argument with Mr Moriarty. Moriarty, who is here for the
week as a Visiting Professor (even though he is not actually a
professor at his own college in Somerset), is staying in a room at the
College.
West and Fortune had had to wait until after Summerfield left and
everyone in the College had retired once more before they could leave.
They did not arrive at the meadow until a bit after midnight. They
launched the machine not long after 12:30. Its internal control
mechanism should have caused it to fly in a single long loop at land
back at their location. The device had instead flown out of the commons
and toward the city. They had seen it go up into the air and exlode.
They gathered their equipment and fled back to the College.
We returned to the pond, where his lordship had gathered a large number
of samples. He was anxious to return to the MacGregor estate and begin
performing experiments.
Sir Simon had sent for Mr Frazer, and wished the rest of us to return
to the estate.
Despite the activities in the night, much of the household awoke early
for breakfast. Sir Simon returned to the city, accompanied by...
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