Sunday, 29 May, 1870

An idle morning so far, after a manically busy night.

I had the unusual experience of waking to find Molly, the housemaid, already in my room and laying a fire. I must have been terribly tired to sleep so late, and not wake as she approached my room.

At Miss Whitnell's behest, I tried a "meditation" to help me sleep last night, since I was terribly restless after our excitement. She was so insistent. When I tried to decline her offer to teach me the technique, she offered to try a "soothing spell" instead. I chose the lesser of two evils. It seems to have worked a little too well for my comfort.

Regarding last night's excitement...

We went to the Eagle Comercial Hotel in search of "Sentenza." Mr MacGregor led the way and pointed out the correct room. Edward and I did a quick reconnaisance to the window via the stable roof. It was apparent that the room's occupant had been using the stable roof to come and go. The room appeared unoccupied, and the window was unlatched.

After a consultation, the group split into three:
1) Edward, Lt Wooster, and I went to the window, prepared to enter there or to cut off the escape if our man was hiding in the room after all.

2) Miss Whitnell, Mrs Cuthbert, and Miss Gordon investigated the stable, and kept a watch on the outside of the building (Miss Gordon had originally attempted to come onto the stable roof with us, but she was not equal to even that short climb, encumbered with long skirts as she was).
Salmalin stayed outside as well, keeping an eye on the street-level entrances of the hotel.

3) Sir Cosmo, Mr MacGregor, Mr Caine, Miss Chigwidgeon, Mr Cuthbert, and Mr Ramsay came up the main stairs, having talked a way past the Concierge.

We came in through the window simultaneously with the other team coming through the door. Sentenza really wasn't there. We searched the room, finding the pickle barrel with a ladle in it, a weird ceramic bottle hidden under the floor boards, and a number of curious notes and letters. No sword.

The papers contained a spur to drive us to our next goal: We found a list containing several of our names and some affiliations and addresses. There was also a postal map with a couple of faint marks. We all recognised it for a list of targets and the means of finding them.

Lady Ottoline's school and its address was on the list. Since it is full of children, and therefore especially vulnerable, we went there first, leaving only Mr MacGregor at the hotel to question the staff.

When we arrived at Lady Ottoline's, I heard breaking glass in the back, and two girls were running out on the way to fetch the police. They reported a "madman" attacking the headmistress in the Gymnasium. The girls seemed to be quite calm and orderly during the crisis, and were efficiently evacuating the building as we ran in.

When we reached the gymnasium, Lady Ottoline and her assistant Vicky were fighting the "madman" with swords. Also there, fighting alongside them, was a huge man, whom I later learned was Rip Chigwidgeon. The "Madman" matched the descriptions of the cursed king's ghost, the Stepney Killer.

I didn't stay there long, because I realised that with all of us inside, our other villain, Sentenza, had free rein outside.

Mrs Cuthbert had remained outside with some idea of finding the mysterious black horse that Sentenza had been riding. Since Miss Whitnell and Mr Ramsay had come into the gymnasium to do some ritual to contain the ghost, I had to leave anyway, so I offered to send Mrs Cuthbert in to help them.

That task accomplished, I began to search around the outside of the building. Mr Cuthbert and Miss Gordon joined me, though they moved around the building the other way.

I came around the Ottoline School building to discover that I had taken the longer route to the action. Miss Gordon and Mr Cuthbert had already gone into an old church building which was under renovation and covered with boards and scaffolding.

More immediately pressing, I found Dr Wilson darting about the black Horse. What a creature! It was just as black and fearsome as Mr MacGregor had described. I could see flashes of fire where its hooves struck earth, and its eyes glowed red.

I threw a rock at it, but the rock seemed only to bounce off it and away. Dr Wilson raised his gun, but it wouldn't fire.

We had all impressed upon him the importance of not destroying Lady Ottoline's school by using the Rocket Gun, but plainly he had little choice now. He drew and fired a rocket. The detonation didn't seem to burn the horse, but the force of the explosion did push it down. He was preparing to fire again when I noticed a figure in the belfry of the old church.

It matched the description of Sentenza, right down to the long-stemmed pipe. This man was aiming a firework rocket at Lady Ottoline's School! I called to Dr Wilson, and he looked up and immediately diverted his fire toward the belfry.

I could see the expression on Sentenza's face: he looked down to a box at his feet which was bristling with fireworks, and with a horrified grimace, he hurled himself out the opening of the belfry. He had scarcely put any distance between himself and the explosives before Dr Wilson's rocket arrived to wreak fiery havoc.

I dropped to the ground with my arms over my head. When the masonry stopped falling, I looked up to see the entire scaffolding and part of the tower quite collapsed.
I worried about Miss Gordon and Mr Cuthbert for a moment, but they emerged in due course, coughing in the dust, looking shaken but unharmed.

Meanwhile, the wicked Horse had broken off its attack on Dr Wilson. With all appearance of concern for its master, it was pawing at the pile of rubble which covered Sentenza.

While it was thus distracted, I was able to perceive the bronze hilt of a sword lashed to the saddle. It was definitely our missing relic. I moved to retrieve it. Just as I approached the beast, Mr MacGregor made a spectacular debut onto the scene by vaulting onto the Horse's back. I just had time to snatch the blade before the Horse lunged off like its tail was on fire. Mr MacGregor held on quite admirably until the Horse dove into a shadow and vanished, leaving Mr MacGregor on the ground.

The other party, who had been battling the Ghost in the Gymnasium, had begun to trickle out of the building.

Miss Whitnell and the other Mystics had managed to capture the Ghost inside Lt Wooster's whiskey flask, but not before it had done notable injury to several of our colleagues. Sir Cosmo, Mr Caine, Lt Wooster, all sported bruises, cuts, and makeshift bandages.

Edward was fine, but that was only because Mrs Cuthbert had labored over him after he was badly slashed. He had impulsively leapt onto the head of the Ghost. He was nearly killed. He was now feeling quite chipper, and seemed perfectly ignorant of the fact that Mrs Cuthbert was pale and worn, having exhausted her resources to save him. I will have to prod him to write her a decent thank-you note, I'm sure.

Sentenza began to try digging himself out of the rubble, only to find us watching him intently, whereupon he gave a very dramatic performance of dying. Miss Gordon was unconvinced and took a strip of petticoat to tie his hands as they had emerged, and at Miss Whitnell's suggestion Miss Chigwidgeon also gagged him. Miss Gordon reported, with some revulsion, that Sentenza's skin was quite clammy and cold.

This supported the suspicion that he was "Undead," as did Miss Whitnell's examination of his "aura." Mr Rip Chigwidgeon's solution was to find a length of metal pipe and a large mallet, and drive it, between the chunks of rubble, into and through Sentenza's chest. He seemed perfectly confident of his actions.

Police began to arrive, and Mr MacGregor shook himself and went with Sir Cosmo to the front steps to meet them, keeping them away from this scene. The Students of the school obligingly put on a show of hysteria and vapours, which kept all the constables quite distracted.

Shortly thereafter, Sir Sebastian Ffolkes (the Undersecretary for Police and Prisons) arrived and asked where the real scene was, and helped move the other constables along. I hadn't properly made the acquaintance of Sir Sebastian before this, though some of us had met his wife, Lady Ffolkes. He seemed quite on top of things, and appears to be in Sir Anthony's confidence in areas relevant to the police.

Mr Post and Mr Travers of the St Jerome troupe arrived, followed by Mrs Godwin. They had a lengthy conversation with Mr Ramsay and Miss Whitnell, which I heard little of, as I was attempting to stay out of the way of their activities.

They learned a good deal about Sentenza's motivation for harassing Dr Wilson (it proved to be a bounty set by some obsessed American, who was intent on discrediting Dr Wilson). Sentenza's "un-life" story was also revealed, wherein he was killed some years ago and was resurrected by some kind of Red Indian spirit. America must be quite a place.

I was at last able to relinquish the sword to Mrs Godwin. She and Sir Sebastian devised a plan to send it back to the reliquary at St Eglantine's, with police to guard it until Sir Cosmo and the St Jerome people could construct a secure new reliquary to install there.

With all this, it was nearing day when we made it home to Mayfair. Mrs Murphy immediately laid out a collection of cold meats and bread. We were all ravenous, though Edward fell asleep on a shelf before he ate much.

We all settled in to sleep, which is when Miss Whitnell showed me her little trick.

This morning Mrs Cuthbert and Miss Whitnell managed to get out to church. All the rest of us stayed abed late, even forgoing our usual Defence exercises for the moment. It is quiet but for Miss Chigwidgeon pacing about in the morning room. I suppose she's agitated about this afternoon's planned visit to Lord Greyminster's home.

I wonder where Edward has got to.

Sunday 29 May, 1870
(evening)

It's sixes and sevens again. I can't even quite report what has got the house in an uproar, because I haven't heard all the stories yet.

I can say that Miss Chigwidgeon pounced on Miss Whitnell immediately upon the latter's return from services today. She had had a letter from young Mr Graham which put her in a different state of anxiety from her usual. Miss Whitnell seemed also alarmed by its contents, and sent immediately for Mr Ramsay. I was not consulted in this conference, so I assumed that it was some sort of Mystic concern.

I was trying to listen from the hallway, but Miss Gordon kept searching me out to discuss what to do with her wardrobe--she wants to make it more practical for our sort of activities. I am fully in support of this, though the timing proved inconvenient when I was trying to listen to the Mystics.

Fortunately, they concluded their consultation and came out to give the rest of us a summary. It was hard to make sense of it. I was able to discern that the letter from young Mr Graham had talked about the funeral he was in Northumberland to assist with. The Mystics seemed to believe the nature of the deceased's passing was suspicious, and they spoke about Vampires. Really! I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. We've already met skeleton warriors, an evil monkey, and a ghost king. Why not vampires too? I suppose we'll do battle with Father Christmas any day now.

Anyroad, Mrs Cuthbert was able to conjure some sort of vision which conviced everyone that young Mr Graham was safe for the time being. Mr Ramsay planned to report the concern to his St Jerome colleagues.

Much of this seemed forgotten by afternoon. Miss Chigwidgeon, Miss Whitnell, and Sir Cosmo returned from their visit and all seemed in good spirits. Apparently Lord Greyminster has confessed that his health is not so bad as he makes out. He has his reasons for this deception of the public, I'm sure. Sir Cosmo seemed quite relieved. The three of them are all going to attend a vocal concert and reception in Lord Greyminster's place. Perhaps that's why Miss Whitnell and Miss Chigwidgeon seemed so pleased with themselves.

Meanwhile, Edward and I are back to our studies. I had planned a light day today, but that didn't make things any easier. We did a bit of field entomology, and I had a hard time getting Edward to stop eating our specimens. I tried to tell him that I would like to help him work on his own projects in the later afternoon, but he was too fractious to listen to my offer. What could be the trouble?

Monday, 30 May, 1870

I feel quite at the end of my tether today.

I had quite a row with Edward. He is determined not to keep me apprised of his whereabouts. I have long known that he performs a variety of errands around town for Sir Cosmo. I have never complained of this.

However, I have realized that there is quite a bit going on which I am never privy to. I have become aware that not all of Edward's running about is at Sir Cosmo's behest. Indeed, Edward has quite an agenda all his own. Perhaps I could more correctly say that a goodly portion of Edward's business is actually Miss Wilhelmina's.

Sir Cosmo called me to his study for a brief discussion and informed me of some further circumstances. Apparently, while Edward was out in the middle of the night, he met the other Thugee, whom he calls George.

This Person told Edward all about a number of splintered factions in the late Jerrold Moriarty's Criminal Network. Some of them are vigourously searching for Wilhelmina, who is J. Moriarty's Grandaughter, and considered by some to be his heir. Most of them mean her ill.

This George says that J. Moriarty came to him in a vision, told him about Wilhelmina's hiding place, told him that she was in danger, and charged him to protect her.

Edward had an unusual attack of good sense and decided to report this to Sir Cosmo, so that the entire League could be On Our Guard.

What I am asking is this: Why has Edward been roaming around the city in the middle of the night in the first place? When Wilhelmina so firmly insisted that she was in terrible danger, why is Edward going about so rashly? Sir Cosmo seems to know that he is out on his own, and seems to think little of it.

Is Anyone paying attention to where this child goes and what's going on? I feel quite at a loss. How can I ensure the well being of an excessively precocious young person, whose capabilities I don't truly know?

Edward has always seemed so obliging (to the letter of my orders, if not always the spirit). I have given him quite a bit of latitude to judge his own capability and safety.

I am rethinking that, now that I know that Edward makes mistakes...consider that he was nearly killed by jumping impulsively into battle on Saturday night. I wasn't even there to look out for him!

I tried to ask Edward to tell me before going out anywhere, to give me some idea of what he would be doing and with whom. He was not willing to tell me, but rather said Sir Cosmo was aware of his activities and approved.

Apparently Sir Cosmo has not found it necessary to confide in me until today, now that visionary secret bodyguards and underworld conspiracies have come into the picture. Apparently Edward does not trust me to keep his secrets, (or Wilhelmina's).

I could understand the necessity for Miss Wilhelmina to go into hiding, to keep away from her horrible mother. It was a very clever solution that most children would never dream of. I can even understand why she was so reluctant to make herself known to me. But Miss Whitnell knew about it. Sir Cosmo knew about it. Miss Chigwidgeon knew. Why not me?

I had thought that Edward had some affection and respect for me, as I have for him, but I must have been mistaken.

What is the point of my being here? I am not being permitted to watch over my charge. I don't even know if what I have been teaching Edward all this time isn't already completely elementary to Miss Wilhelmina.

I thought to discuss these concerns further with Sir Cosmo, but now is not a good time to talk to him. It appears that he and Miss Chigwidgeon have come to an Arrangement. Both of them, and Miss Whitnell also, are walking around in a happy daze.

I have already recorded my misgivings about this match.

Miss Whitnell did inform me that Lord Greyminster had already expressed approbation of Miss Chigwidgeon (will wonders never cease). Miss Pinker, she says, shares my concerns about the repercussions to Sir Cosmo's social and political status, but is more interested in Sir Cosmo's personal happiness. Now if only we could get the catty Honorable Misses of our fair nation to think about happiness that way.

No one has asked for my opinion of the matter, nor my assistance with coaching Miss Chigwidgeon in the nuances of high society. Miss Whitnell has remained Miss Chigwidgeon's primary confidante throughout these hand-wringing, heart-rending days.

Enough of that melodrama.

Other than the haze of May-December Romance, and the secret manouevers of criminal factions, our life is settling a little. We have resumed more of our routines.

We began the day with Defence exercises, breakfast, Hindi lessons. Then Edward and I went to the schoolroom for Geography and a little History. After luncheon, we spent some more time on Edward's mechanical projects. I must say, Edward's bizarre diction has begun to bother me again (I had been growing accustomed to it). Knowing that Miss Wilhelmina speaks fine English makes it all the more maddening.

It was during our afternoon session that Edward and I had our difficulties. Then we went in for tea, and heard Sir Cosmo's and Miss Chigwidgeon's announcement.

Mr Ramsay and Mr MacGregor had joined us for tea, to tell and hear the latest findings by the St Jerome group about the doings of Sentenza. We did get some news, despite the uproar of The Announcement.

Apparently, Sentenza had been working from more than one hotel room, and with quite a thorough array of resources. While Sentenza himself is securely contained at the St Jerome Chapterhouse, his Horse is still free (though some contend that his capture might have freed the beast from Sentenza's thrall).

Also unaccounted-for is the "owl-spirit" which had attacked the house Saturday night. The consensus is that it was not exorcised by our Mystics and is still at large somewhere.

At least the Stepney Killer is secure in his whiskey-flask, and his sword locked up.

Mr MacGregor departed after tea, seeming somewhat bemused by the festive atmosphere

He seems a good man to have on our side. His connexions with the police have been convenient on more than one occasion. He seems not at all put off by all the strange occurences we find ourselves enmeshed in. Miss Whitnell reported that he respects the intelligence of women. That alone could endear him to many of us. It seems likely that we'll see him again in the future.

Miss Whitnell and Mr Ramsay have departed for a seminar of some sort at the St Jerome Chapterhouse.

Edward is out in the carriage house pounding away at something, At least I know where he is that way!

I suppose it's a good time to start outlining my next paper...my working title is "Illustrated Survey of Insect Life in Urban London." I foresee a reference work in several volumes. I plan to start with the flying insects. I might lose my nerve when it comes to cataloguing the fleas and the bedbugs...

I had hoped that Edward and I could work on it together, though it rather depends on whether he can forego devouring the work.

Proceed to There is always an emergency

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