Wednesday, 6 April, 1870 (early morning)

My packing to leave was interrupted shortly after I completed my last entry.

Sir Cosmo sent to me, insisting that we must all convene to search Mme. Zephyrine's shop. Of course, I was still packing, and the Mertons are not likely to accept any delay. Miss Whitnell very kindly offered to send her Lady's maid, Mary, to pack for me. Imagine, another person packing for me, instead of the reverse. She seemed overall quite competent, and most of my papers are still in order from just being moved in at the Mertons'.

Off we all went. Edward proves to be very handy with a lockpick.

Strangely, we made the acquaintance of yet more peculiar people at the shop. Another carriage (very fine and quite out-of -place in that part of town) arrived just as we did.

A woman and a man came forward and introduced themselves as Mr Spencer Cuthbert and his niece, Elethea Cuthbert, a widow. I am still uncertain why they chose to impose themselves upon us and join up with our group, but they seem to get along well with everyone. The gentleman is quite a hunter and a firearms enthusiast. The lady seems quite friendly, rather forward in fact, but then, she can obviously afford to be eccentric.

All our attempts to discreetly redirect the Cuthberts came to nothing. Several of us went onto the shop to search for evidence and for information about Mme Z's espionage activities. Mrs. Cuthbert kept insisting that she had a message to deliver, or some such thing.

The whole situation was extremely vexing! I was doing my best to ensure a methodical search of the premises, while holding Mrs. Cuthbert away, trying to make sure that Edward didn't steal everything, repeatedly warning everyone to be careful of poisons...

Miss Namaste found some kind of heathenish altar, and she and Miss Whitnell agreed that it wasn't arranged in the usual way. Their close inspection revealed a compartment with some volumes about magic. Miss Namaste and Miss Whitnell next proceeded through the back room and up the stairs to the flat above. Miss Namaste knocked some furnishings over, and as I ran up to see if she was all right, Mrs. Cuthbert came upstairs with me. I frankly gave up on trying to deter her. No one else seemed concerned with her or her Uncle seeing us ransacking this building. For a secret type of operation, we are collectively quite a noisy and indiscreet lot. What's one more?

Things were about to get even more indiscreet...

While all of us women were upstairs, we discovered a cache of code books in the wardrobe. How nice, exactly what we'd hoped for! Just as we were looking for more, however, I heard a confrontation taking shape out in the street. We dimmed the lights in the rooms to avoid being silhouetted (Miss Whitnell's very wise suggestion) and looked out.

A group of men had converged on the street, and were pointing some very significant weapons at the men of our party. The apparent leader of the attackers was demanding that we turn over Edward to him. As if we would do any such thing!

Well, in the ensuing firefight, I saw how Dr. Wilson ("Kid Rocket's" real name) came to have such a following as a hero, and I noticed that Mr. Cuthbert is a very good shot with large firearms. Lt. Wooster and Caine also fought very bravely.

Sir Cosmo and Edward were still downstairs, and I could only hope they were taking cover.

Before the group of us upstairs could take action to defend our friends, I heard a noise of a rope coming from the next room.

Mrs. Cuthbert had a small gun, which she declared herself unable to use (I can't help but wonder why she would have a dangerous weapon without the training to use it). Miss Namaste said she could use it. It was quite dark,. Miss Whitnell had the sense to call to the unknown person to stop, but Miss Namaste shot before any further action could occur. Impulsive!

We rushed in to subdue the unknown,, who was muttering in a foreign language, With some effort we got him tied up in strips of petticoats.

The action outside was winding down. When we looked out, the scene was thoroughly revolting!

Dr. Wilson and Lt Wooster were injured, but alive. Sir Cosmo had apprehended the leader of the enemies (whose name is Capt. Hartley), despite the latter's electrical weapon.

I will digress to say that this man and this weapon were the cause of Arthur Milford's death. Edward witnessed that murder. This made him a target to these men, but it also gave him the idea to invent a coat designed to conduct the electrical charge away from the wearer's body. You will recall that I called him a mechanical prodigy. Sir Cosmo used Edward's coat to protect himself while he closed with Captain Hartley and defeated him.

The street was quite full of bodies of the enemy's party...they appeared to be mercenary thugs of Oriental origin, Chinese, I believe. We were certain that this carnage would be bringing the police and a great deal of unwanted attention.

Most of our party went back to Sir Cosmo's residence in the clockwork carriage and the Cuthberts' carriage. This included the injured and the captives.
Mr. Cuthbert was kind enough to escort me to make a report to Sir Anthony. I left a detailed message at the appropriate office, and we returned to Sir Cosmo's to rejoin the others.

Mary had completed my packing.

The captives were secured in the cellar with Caine and Graves watching them. I continue to hope that Sir Anthony will come and take them away.

Miss Whitnell, Mrs. Cuthbert and myself passed most of the rest of the night working on the coded books. We found:
1) several texts on magic practices
2) a decoding guide
3) a book of notes written out during decoding
4) a personal diary, written in a fairly simple code.

I must say, Madame Zephyrine doesn't impress me, keeping all these notes together. I'm sure the French Government would be disappointed.

I spent some time matching up events in Mme Z's diary to recent events. Mrs Cuthbert spent some time with the Magic books, declaring herself to have some expertise in the field of spiritualism.

Meanwhile, Miss Namaste has been conversing with the man we captured, who proves to be East Indian, and speaks Hindi as well as good English. He seems to have said something to upset her.

The other captive, Capt. Hartley, seems to have some history with Sir Cosmo. I am profoundly uneasy. Sir Cosmo was threatening to shock the captive with some electrical device. The Capt. had already been struck quite hard by Caine for using vulgar language in front of ladies. The ugly prospect of abetting torture led me to intercede with my own variety of questioning. It all depended on the Capt. having been raised in a particular way, but I thought it might be worth the attempt.

I gave him a scolding, boxed his ears, washed his mouth out with soap, and made him sit in the corner. I would never treat a child this way, but I know that anyone who has been treated this way in childhood would be extremely humiliated and perhaps would be taken back in mind to childhood. It has not been entirely effective, but may serve in conjunction with other forms of persuasion.

As for Sir Cosmo, I would not have thought him the sort to resort to torture, as he has seemed a thinking and gentle person. However, these circumstances continue to be full of danger and surprises. I can only conclude that I know nothing of this kind of life. I must also recall that Sir Cosmo shows a tender concern for Edward that surpasses the affections of most fathers I have worked for. I imagine that a threat to Edward might give rise to a strong protective impulse. I will simply hold the hope that Sir Cosmo was bluffing, and that we will find another way to learn what we must.

Miss Whitnell is interrogating our Indian prisoner in Hindi. Edward has begun his own form of harassment of the Capt, tickling the man with a feather duster.

I am quite out of patience with the whole affair. With Sir Cosmo's assistance, I have sent Edward to bed. I am going to finish this account and try to sleep. I hope things will be clearer tomorrow.

Wednesday 6 April, 1870,
Continued

Well, I have managed to sleep a bit,, in fact later than usual, and feel able to think through some of the things I learned yesterday...

I failed to mention in my last entry that we learned that our two captives were in fact working for the same faction. They both call their leader "The Master" and seem to think he has some supernatural powers over them. The Indian man, Miss Whitnell tells me, is a member of a cult worshiping a goddess of Destruction and Chaos, and is bound by some oath to serve this "Master. Miss Whitnell seems to have unsettled him somewhat.

Both the Indian and the Capt. are convinced, that this Master will kill them and bring him back from the dead as punishment for his failure to get Edward and the code books.

I don't know how such hardened and vicious persons can be taken in by such a bizarre story.

Between the interrogations and the decoding, we have identified four factions involved in the various goings-on:

1) The French government, their agents Mme Zephyrine and Jacques. Allied with agents at Graham &Sons.
Their goal: find the plans to the underwater ship
Responsible for: death of Clive St John,
Method: poison,
Also: attacked Merton house also with poison fumes,
currently in custody

2) The Prussian government,
their agent Hans Bopp.
Apparently causing trouble for Dr Wilson and the firms he's been working for. I am not fully aware of these events.

3) The "Master,"
his agents Capt. Hartley, McGrody (now deceased), and the Indian (whose name is Salmalin),
His goal: Seems to want undersea ship plans also.
Responsible for: McGrody (according to Edward's account) killed Arthur Milford,
Method: electric gun and misc thugs and weapons
current activities: Master want's to capture Edward because he witnessed Milford murder. Do they know about Edward's abilities and knowledge? Do they perhaps want to take Edward prisoner instead of killing him?
Also: according to Salmalin, they are seeking a girl named Wilhelmina. This girl may be in danger.

4) Her Majesty's Government
her agents: Us.

Our next concerns:
1) undersea ship plans--currently in British hands,. a sample is being built by Edward in the Carriage House.
2) Mr. Ned Land, who was aboard Capt. Nemo's ship...reportedly in London somewhere
3) Mr. Benton Frazer, working with Sir Anthony. missing since Tuesday last. Is his dog missing also?
4) "Wilhelmina, a 10-year-old redheaded girl, being sought by Master's faction. Why? reportedly in London, living on the streets. known to Edward.
5) Lord Singleford, who, according to Mrs. Cuthbert, was murdered. Although his death has been generally reported, it has not been called a murder. This occurrence will need to be verified. Is it relevant to the other deaths we have been investigating?

All this is very compelling, However, I am also responsible for seeing to young Edward's education. Today I will set about establishing a schoolroom. Sir Cosmo says that Graves will help me select a suitable location and help me with furnishings.

2 Desks and Chairs
large slate board and chalk
pencils, pens, ink & inkwells
paper
3-4 lamps and oil
basic reference book set (dictionary &c)
maps: England & World

I will have to do some cleverly-diguised testing with Edward to determine where to begin. I'm sure he is beyond his years in applied mathematics,, chemistry, and other applied sciences. The trick will be getting him interested in English and Latin, in history, in the arts.

Proceed to 3. The Mertons Would Be Scandalized!

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