I have been sorely tempted to beg off attending services today, but my curiosity about the residents of this parish has won out.

Once I resolved to emerge from my blankets, I discovered that Benton had had a tray sent up for me with tea, sliced chicken, and toast. This gave me sufficient strength to go out and join in Defence practise.

When Benton returned from his exercise with Turgenov, he rummaged for a moment and produced a parcel. His family's bible, at last.
As I opened to the frontispiece, I heard Sergeant Frazer's voice suggesting that our baby could be named for one of Benton's uncles, Donald or Douglas, I didn't mention that I'd been leaning toward Robert. I rather like the name Douglas as well.
But the real matter here was that I could surreptitiously look to Benton's natal record. His birthday is 5 April! How can I conjure a suitable gift to acknowledge the day in so short a time?

I shall have to think on this. It's time to leave for the Church.

Sunday 3 April 1871
(Continued–late evening)

So much for the "Day of Rest." We have been very busy here in Bury.

The services themselves were relatively uneventful, save that Mrs Salmalin identified the man she had seen looking over the shrubbery at Dearden House yesterday–we didn't learn his name, but he is the manservant of Mr Frederick Shorrock. We've been thinking that perhaps this Mr Shorrock feels disinclined to await his Uncle's return from "Africa," and is trying to gain information, if not admittance, to the house. This driver is rather an ominous-looking fellow. I shouldn't like to have him looking through shrubberies at Me.

We also spoke to the Shorrock Ladies at Services. Inspector MacGreggor, Mr O'Flaherty, Mr Frazer, and I later attended upon them at Dearden House. In an unexpected development, the Aunts were very intent upon conversing with the Inspector and leaning all his particulars--they obviously regarded him as a possible suitor for Miss Helen. I might add that she seems quite willing to consider his merits.

The Aunts' concerted interest made it difficult for us to converse with Miss Helen alone, but I persevered. If Mr Shorrock's experiment was concealed from them, I didn't want to earn Miss Helen's enmity by revealing all in their presence. At last the Aunts consented to go to the Parlour with Mr Frazer while Miss Helen continued showing us about the conservatory. Miss Shorrock bestowed a most speaking gaze upon me as she entrusted Helen to my Chaperonage.

At last poor Mr O'Flaherty could deliver his apology for breaking into the ice house. Miss Helen, to her credit, was not interested in recriminations, only in ensuring her father's safety. Alas, when we inspected the ice house, we discovered that the case, the moss, the equipment, and Mr Shorrock were quite gone.

The Inspector summoned Mr Frazer by the Deceased Father Telegraph, and then we asked those helpful gentlemen to request Mrs Cuthbert's assistance. While waiting, we examined the area. Tracks around the ice house suggested 6 men in workmen's boots and 1 man in a finer walking boot. These had apparently carefully taken the tank of moss and all that was needed to maintain it. Wagon tracks led out to the road, but were lost in the markings of general traffic.

Miss Helen and I pondered the list of people we thought might have accomplished this raid. Together we considered Dr Patrick O'Brien, who lives right at hand in the Village, who is familiar with this field of study, and who has often been a ferocious critic of Mr Shorrock's work. At any rate, this was a place to start.

When Mrs Cuthbert and Mrs Salmalin arrived, their scrying showed them a man who certainly matched Dr O'Brien in description, in addition to 6 men who looked like longshoremen. These men loaded the case onto a wagon as we had surmised, and drove to what appeared to be an abandoned coal mine.

This choice of hiding place proved convenient for us. When we gathered again at Edenfield Court to consult maps, Sir Cosmo informed us that between them, Sir Cosmo and Lord Greyminster own all the coal mines in the area, both working and abandoned.

Sir Cosmo and Lady Cowperthwaite undertook to call on Dr O'Brien, hoping to catch him out or at least keep him from impeding our rescue mission. They took Emily with them in case any of her sort of trouble came up.

The rest of the League, accompanied by a determined Miss Helen, proceeded to canvass the most likely mines, looking for an entrance which matched the Mystics' vision. At the third site we examined, we found wagon tracks and footprints similar to those outside the ice house. The Mystics told us that not only did this site resemble what the vision had shown, but it had some mystical barriers around it as well.

We formed up in battle order, with Mr Salmalin and George first (to reconnoiter), then Lt Wooster, Sir Spencer, Inspector MacGreggor, and Edward, then the Mystics, then myself and Miss Helen, with Mr Frazer and Mr O'Flaherty at rearguard.

We kept our lanterns shuttered as our point men melted into the dark of the tunnel. I heard very faint sounds from a distant chamber–suddenly louder as the sound of Mr Shorrock's irrigation pump system reached us. I felt Miss Helen's breath catch, and squeezed her arm to urge silence as we all crept forward.

In a moment, we came to a black-clad body– one of our opponents brought down by George and Mr Salmalin. I barely had time to register surprise that it was not an ordinary longshoreman as I had expected, when the now-familiar chaos of battle erupted around me.

I held to Helen, in case she bolted or tried to run into the thick of things. She held her ground, however, and we did our best to keep out of the way. I had gathered a pocketful of stones, having been warned of the hazard of firearms and the possibility of explosive gasses in a mine. I fingered them as the sounds of fighting intensified. Mr O'Flaherty left his rearguard position, brushing past us to join the fray.

I considered that the body we had found in the tunnel looked more like a professional fighter along Mr Salmalin's line than the roustabouts I had expected, and that the fight could be a nearer thing than I had previously supposed. I was urging Mr Frazer to move forward and assist, telling him that Miss Helen and I would be fine and I could guard our escape route. He hesitated, unwilling to leave us and his assigned position, yet anxious to improve our friends' odds. He had no sooner turned to move down the tunnel when the melee quieted and Mr Salmalin's call rose up to us.

Miss Helen was not to be restrained now. She moved with sure steps toward the sound of the irrigating pump. She quickly assessed the condition of the case-- unbroken and functioning properly. Mrs Cuthbert gave me a nod, indicating that Mr Shorrock seemed well to her senses also.

We were beginning to plan how to transport the case again when there was a flurry among the Mystics. Mrs Salmalin warned that there was something happening to the bodies of the deceased enemy fighters. I could now smell an acrid smouldering smoke. The immediate fear was some sort of explosive booby-trap on the bodies. I began to cast about for some means to shield the case and then ourselves, but Mr Salmalin, Mr O'Flaherty, and then others of the men took more direct action, slinging the bodies over their shoulders and running out of the tunnel.

I could only hope that the bodies would not explode too quickly, as that would not only hurt our men, but possibly also collapse the mine entrance. There was no explosion. The bodies simply disintegrated in a last puff of evil-smelling dust.

I examined the clothing left behind once we emerged from the mine. Mr Frazer told us that he thought they might have been "ninjitsu," a warrior cult from China or Japan. I don't see why every foreign country has to have its own black-wearing knife-wielding maniacs. Or why they always turn up here.

After a great deal of discussion, we made our next plan.

The League scattered once again to pursue various issues.

Miss W Mrs Salmalin seemed quite upset by the deaths of the ninjitsus and their subsequent quiet immolation. I thought it quite unpleasant myself, especially since even the ones who were merely unconscious had disintegrated. And the smell was nasty. No doubt an insurance against capture and questioning. I wonder if the fighters had volunteered for this in-situ cremation or if they had been sacrificed by their superiors without their own volition. She undertook one of the scrying rituals to try to understand their fate.

We learned that in addition to the deaths of these fighters, Dr O'Brien had also died. Indeed, Sir Cosmo and Lady Cowperthwaite had witnessed the explosion of his carriage before their very eyes. They had followed him after he had excused himself from their visit, begging illness, and sneaked off in his carriage toward the mine.

The Scrying suggested a surprising history for Dr O'Brien. He had been an agent of an Irish independence organisation for most of his life, and had become embroiled in a larger foreign organisation with some sort of violent Anarchist agenda. How tiresome, Anarchists again.

I learned later from Mrs Cuthbert that she had attempted to reach his spirit, and he said he had taken his own life rather than face the dire Mystical forces closing in on him--by which he meant Mrs Salmalin ("a powerful sorceress") and Lady Cowperthwaite ("the goddess Kali") Poor misguided idiot.

We secured the case and its related equipment in a cart to return to Dearden House. I was relieved that Miss Helen agreed that it was time to conclude the experiment. She didn't object when we suggested that Mrs Cuthbert's unspecified skills as a healer would be helpful. We set the case up in the Conservatory and Miss Helen began work on the slow process of bringing her father to wakefulness. She says it will take a few days for him to awaken fully. I assisted her, following her direction in this as promptly as she had followed mine during the battle in the mine. To each her own.

Mrs Salmalin and Inspector MacGreggor went to visit Mr Frederick Shorrock. The Inspector had received a note from the gentleman asking him to call to discuss a serious matter. Mrs Salmalin went along in case mystical scrutiny or protections might be needed against this unknown but suspect character. Emily also accompanied them, no doubt relieved to get away from the work in the Conservatory (she had been quite alarmed to learn that Mr Shorrock was unclothed under all that moss).

When the two of them rejoined us at Dearden House, I could see that things had not gone well. Their faces were quite tense, and they would not meet one another's gaze. They seemed angry with one another.

Still, they were able to report that Mr Frederick Shorrock seems to have no knowledge of the Harrae Diamond, doesn't seem to know the source of the dispute between his late father and his uncle. He had asked Inspector MacGreggor's help because his own search for his Uncle had revealed to him that his Uncle had never gone to Africa, and he suspects foul play, possibly by the Shorrock ladies. The Inspector had attempted to convince the young man that his Uncle is reasonably well and safe, but that the Inspector was not at liberty to reveal his actual location.

Mrs Cuthbert and Mrs Salmalin were trying to learn what had really happened to the Harrae Diamond.
I should mention that this morning Mrs Cuthbert reported, in great detail, a dream about Major Daniel Shorrock and his acquisition of the diamond. Her dream showed a great deal of dishonesty and indeed murder committed by the Major in his greed for this jewel. That suggestion of evil doings, in addition to the strife the jewel has caused between the Shorrock brothers, had led the Mystics to consider the possibility that the diamond is "cursed". Frankly, I don't see that any kind of curse is needed. Simple human greed and pride are quite enough to cause all manner of evil in the case of such a valuable jewel.

Mrs Cuthbert and Mrs Salmalin somehow managed a private quarter-hour to scry on the history of the diamond in the family, and learned that Horace Shorrock had not taken the Diamond to Australia at all. He had taken it out of the strong box and hidden it elsewhere in the house, leaving a note he hoped would lead Nathan Shorrock (and no one else) to its place of concealment. Unfortunately, Nathan did not understand the note, and thought that Horace had taken the diamond. Nathan had subsequently allowed the police to think that Sean Malloy had stolen it. That was almost certainly Sean Malloy's intention when he broke into Dearden House that night.

The elder Shorrock ladies spoke of Sean Malloy as a fearsome man with a strange influence over Horace. Even the scrying did not reveal the particular nature of this influence, but it did suggest that Horace had hidden the jewel specifically to keep it out of Malloy's hands.

Now our Mystics knew the hiding place of the Diamond, but did not wish to explain how they had learned of it to the Shorrock ladies. So Mrs Cuthbert and Mrs Salmalin started asking them leading questions about possible hiding places in the house.
Eventually, they made their way up to a little garret room where the brothers had played as children. They found an old dispatch case under a loose floorboard and Voila! The diamond.

The Mystics quietly determined that it was, in fact, free of any supernatural sort of curse, and the Shorrock ladies have locked it in the strongbox for now.

We were then faced with the fact that a very valuable object has been "unearthed," and word will get round. Some of us asked Inspector MacGreggor to make some suggestions about household security to the ladies since he is a Police Inspector and his suggestion might be regarded as expert advice. Unfortunately, the Inspector seemed very peevish and wanted to have nothing to do with it. "I am not legally or morally obligated" were his words. I was astonished. I suppose he is feeling put upon after his difficult interview with Mr Frederick Shorrock and whatever his grievance with Mrs Salmalin might be.

Some of us made some suggestions anyway, and the Ladies invited a few of us to stay to help protect the house. After all, strange hooligans had just stolen Mr Shorrock the night before. The elder ladies were slightly alarmed already.

A modest number of us are staying at Dearden house tonight:
-Mr Frazer and I, since Mr Frazer is with the police.
-Mrs Cuthbert, in case of any difficulty with Mr Shorrock's reviving,
-Emily, for the personal protection of the ladies, (though we allowed the elder Shorrock ladies to assume that she was Mrs Cuthbert's lady's maid).

Now Mr Frazer and I have been situated in a decent but disused room. Turgenov, Mr Frazer and I walked all about the outside of the house, checking locks and so forth. Mr Frazer is taking first watch.

Considerations to lie awake by:
1) Although Mr Frederick Shorrock appears to be an honest and decent man, his manservant rouses dire suspicions. My current (and only tenuously supported) hypothesis is that this man knows something about the existence of the Diamond, and is using Mr Frederick Shorrock as a means to find it. Was this man perhaps in the London areas during the Kennington Road burglaries? Check alibis, Look for connection to Sean Malloy.

2) What about the Anarchist organisation which was behind Dr O'Brien's actions? How extensive? What means? What possible motive could they have had for kidnaping Mr Shorrock? What scope and further activities? How soon will we be faced with them again? We learned that one of the, Dr O'Brien's driver, escaped unseen from Dr O'Brien's carriage explosion. They might try to fight us soon, or they might try to stay clear of us, depending on their strength. Be on guard.

3) Could Miss Helen be a good match for Inspector MacGreggor? She is very intelligent, and resourceful, and has faced very shocking occurrences with remarkable equanimity today.
I think she would thrive in our company, or at least has the capability to comprehend the League's purpose–without fainting. He is a most worthy man (despite his churlishness this evening), with a proven ability to appreciate a capable woman.

If, on consideration, I think this could be a good match, I will have to find a way to encourage Miss Helen, yet convince her to bide her time while the Inspector recovers from his disappointment of last summer. If the Aunts are too forward in promoting the match, he may well resist the whole idea. At the same time, if Miss Helen's fine qualities do not draw his attention, he might continue to mope in this unattractive fashion indefinitely. And that would be an inexcusable waste.

4) What can I give Mr Frazer for his birthday?

Proceed to Difficult conditions

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