Mr Frazer and I took a little stroll this afternoon. He was instructed by his Superintendent to stay home and rest, but he was working on his reports regarding yesterday’s assault on Police headquarters.

We spoke of the unexpectedly haphazard mode of the attack. Why would these enemies attack a stronghold without ascertaining if the object of their desire were within? It was not such a secret that a determined organisation with resources couldn’t have found out. He speculated that the noisy frontal assault was merely a distraction, and that something else was their object. I returned that perhaps they were actually planting something or someone inside the station. We agreed that this was a good time to take the babies out for some air.

We gathered up Mrs Cuthbert and of course Violet, and we strolled the mile to Headquarters with the prams. When we arrived, the clerks and officers were surprisingly curious to see the babies, and all offered congratulations. I discovered that my husband’s colleague Mr Beggles, who attends St John’s, had informed Mrs Horton of our news, which is how she and Mrs Fieldley knew to visit yesterday morning.

We searched the building top-to-bottom and at last discovered signs that at least one ninjitsu had made his way to the deepest of the archive rooms. We discovered a scrap of blotter with what appeared to be building plans, though in reverse, of course. At this point, we spoke to Inspector MacGreggor, who was also supposed to be resting, but was also at work. He thought for a few moments, then examined a report from the night before: The body of a known forger had been discovered along the River. “Billy Button” had had a reputation as being fast and accurate in his work-- an ideal candidate to copy sensitive building plans then leave the plans in place to avoid arousing suspicion as to the target. Unfortunately for Mr Button, once he had copied the plans, the ninjitsus would no longer need him, and so would have disposed of him permanently. Not a definite connection, but certainly a possibility.

We undertook to check all the archived building plans stored in the rooms below and found one that matched the fragment: two connected buildings at No 12 Whitehall and No. 12 Downing. These include the Foreign Office, where the artifact we recovered is actually being stored. So, we know what building they will attempt to breach next, but we cannot be certain what attack they will devise based on the plans.

After some time of this I had to pause and commandeer a private office to attend to feeding the babies. Mr Frazer stood outside the door to ensure privacy, while Violet assisted me in managing the babies. I am finding Motherhood to be even more inconvenient than pregnancy was!

When we returned to Charles Street some time later, my Mother had been stewing in her own juices for an hour, and she took me to task for roaming London when she thought I should still be resting in bed. I also heard that Lady Cowperthwaite and Mrs Salmalin had gone out to visit Sir Matthew Whemple, and had requested that Mrs Cuthbert join them as soon as we returned.

For the rest of the afternoon, I let Mother coo over the babies, and tried not to seem distracted when I could hear other members of the household coming and going, meeting and discussing plans. I could hear faint chanting at times, and smell the ghost of incense from the Mystics's efforts. I heard Mr O'Flaherty come in after a tour of the pubs.

I could only occasionally excuse myself from Mother and flee to No. 18 to learn of the latest discoveries. It was quite infuriating, really.

I learned, in snippets:
1) Sir Matthew had been feeling much better, except that his servants reported that he frequently lapsed into "gibberish." Lady Cowperthwaite, Mrs Salmalin, and then also Mrs Cuthbert spoke with him and eventually offered to do a "mesmeric reading" of his aura. He agreed, and as soon as he had been entranced, another entity seemed to possess him. This entity identified itself as the Oracle of Abydos. It seems to be an ancient informative device made to serve the ancient Egyptian god Wapawet. Our partisans did not find it entirely informative.

In order to retain the services of the Oracle without further jeopardising Sir Matthew's health, Lady Cowperthwaite volunteered to become the host of this entity. It is apparently able to transfer itself to a different person at will, especially if it is invited.

2) Mrs Cuthbert has been perplexed by phenomena which she perceives as signs of an entity called “the Raven King,” a figure of Anglo-Saxon folklore.
-This entity appeared in her dream last night (along with some other mythological characters and also Madame DeVere). During the course of the day, she has continued to notice objects and occurences which seem symbolic or significant to her, and has been hard pressed to make sense of them.
-A mysterious bookseller who sold some very fine and timely books to Wilhelmina at the train station has also appeared in this neighborhood, and has a peculiar tendency to disappear suddenly in a cawing flock of ravens. He also appeared near Sir Matthew's haouse, and spoke to Lady Cowperthwaite. It seems possible that this bookseller is the same person described by some of Sir Matthew's neighbours as loitering about the area before the burglary. If he were affiliated with the ninjitsus, would he still be about the neighbourhood if they had retrieved all they wanted? If he were spying on us or on Sir Matthew, would he have brought himself to our attention as he has? All of our partisans who have encountered him seem to think him mysterious but not hostile.
-many of our household have found stray raven feathers in unlikely places. I myself found a right-side secondary flight feather in a book about brackish-water algae.
Mrs Cuthbert seems to find these phenomena unsettling, which surprises me, as she usually takes these things so much in stride.

3) Mr O’Flaherty and his fellow pugilist Mr Maws have put together a plan to tell the truth (or at least some of the truth) about Rusty Nail Malloy and his fight-fixing scheme. Sir Spencer has dispatched his troupe of hired strongarms to roam about all the pubs in town and spread the story. Having this news spread will certainly damage Malloy's betting profits, and will further erode his standing among the criminal classes.

4) One of the artifacts which has been in our custody has gone missing: the gauntlet or hand ornament or whatever it is, which Mrs Salmalin has been carrying in her pocket, has vanished without a sign. Mrs Salmalin has decided that the remaining item, the crown, might be better kept in one of the safes at No. 18.

I feigned weariness and took dinner in our rooms with my Mother, allowing the rest of the League to consult over dinner without her inhibiting presence.
After dinner, the whole League went out to find Mr Gates and the various other subjects of our interest which we believed likely to be in the same location. Even Benton and Turgenov went, though George was again detailed to stay nearby, and Owen elected to guard the nursery.

I struggled all evening to contain my curiosity and anxiety about the mission. I retired early and encouraged my Mother to do the same. She had just fallen asleep when Sergeant Frazer appeared to me to announce that a battle was in progress in the vicinity of Greenwich. Niall Malloy, a large number of Ninjitsus, and a sorceror of some sort had all been hiding in a good-sized house there. The sorcerer had been killed by Sir Spencer while in the middle of a mystical procedure. Even I have come to understand that this is troublesome.

I could not bear to be idle here while my husband and my friends were fighting for their lives! I instructed Violet to secure herself with the babies in the nursery at any sign of trouble and sneaked down the hallway past the door to my Mother's room. I gathered up George and a large quantity of our stockpiled medical supplies and ammunition into the Cuthberts' remaining carriage. I sent messages to Sir Anthony and to Miss Mitzi, in case reinforcements of various types might be needed. We set out at top speed.

When we reached the place, I could see that our partisans had been hard at work. There were holes in the walls of the size and shape of Mr O'Flaherty and his friend Mr Maws. There were ninjitsu-shaped scorch marks all about the grounds. Confused police constables were milling about despite the Inspector's best efforts to corral them and put them to constructive use.

Mr Frazer offered a brief synopsis of events, much of which was not clear at the time, but which I can now recount with better understanding:
This location had been found by the mystics using their usual methods paired with inquiries of the Oracle in the body of Lady Cowperthwaite. The door plate indicated that it was the residence of Comte Montelimar.
Edward and Mr Salmalin had undertaken to explore the house by stealth.
Mrs Salmalin and Lady Cowperthwaite reconnoitered by going to the door and declaring they were collecting donations for the Young Mothers and Infants Aid Society. They were met in the parlour by Niall Malloy, who made disparaging and threatening remarks. You can imagine what Lady Cowperthwaite did when Mr Malloy insulted Mr and Mrs Salmalin. The ladies and Stuart had just subdued Mr Malloy and his bodyguards when Mr O'Flaherty and Mr Maws began throwing ninjitsus in through the windows--the two of them had been attacked as they examined the outside of the building.

From outside, Sir Spencer had seen a silhouette up in the tallest tower which he decided was a threat, and he fired his elephant gun. That figure proved to have been the Sorcerer. Unfortunately, the disruption of his procedure resulted in unexpected phenomena, most notably the instantaneous transportation of random members of the party to the tower room.

Emily and Sir Cosmo were both severely injured in the fighting. When Sir Cosmo was hurt, Lady Cowperthwaite lost her temper entirely, and the neighbourhood was shaken by those manifestations which are recognised by my mystically-inclined colleagues as possession by the goddess Kali. It was she, I am told, who captured all the energy of the "wild spell" and directed it against the ninjitsus. That was that.

The two pugilists had located Mr Gates in the wine cellar, hurt and mistreated, but alive.

Mrs Cuthbert employed her arts for the benefit of Sir Cosmo and Emily, and both are expected to recover.

Mr Frazer and I were summoned to the tower room by Mrs Salmalin. This uppermost part of the house had been converted into a sort of observatory, with both astronomical and mystical trappings. Mrs Salmalin had located what looked to be a secret passage. We found very recent evidence of Comte Montelimar and one unknown male, suggesting that the Comte escaped through the passage. We followed the passage down and into a tunnel, some distance along, until it debouched into a public stables. We could not trace them beyond that, as the trail was much disturbed by the resident animals. We went back above ground and returned in time to greet Sir Anthony as he arrived with an entourage. Mr Moody and his colleagues also arrived in force, drawn to investigate the uncontrolled energies.

I was just thinking that it was past time to return to my babies (a distinct discomfort about the bodice!) when who should arrive but Vicomte Mulineaus. He insisted upon saying "I told you so" about the Comte Montelimar. Smug foreigner. It's hardly my fault that I have been too busy to investigate his allegations against the Comte! I tried to be gracious, at least long enough to get out of earshot.

Mrs Salmalin got a bit of a shock when her youngest brother James Whitnell appeared. After some attempts on both sides to confound questions of “What are YOU doing here?” it came out that Mr James Whitnell is also in the Employ of Sir Anthony, serving as a consultant in chemistry. He had been summoned to identify and neutralise a quantity of explosive material found at the observatory. Mrs Salmalin was plainly annoyed that Sir Anthony had not informed her that her own brother was a part of the Foreign Office Club.

Of course, upon returning to Charles Street, I was immediately accosted by my Mother, who demanded to know what could have called me away from my babies in the middle of the night. Her outraged curiosity was only enflamed by the sight of Mr Frazer, decorated as he was with a smattering of bandages. Thank goodness she didn’t have occasion to see Sir Cosmo or Emily!

I explained that Mr Frazer had been called out on a case, and had sent word to me for some notes and equipment he had left behind. I had gone out briefly to bring him what was needed. She was not satisfied with this admittedly lame story, but Violet interjected herself and requested my immediate attention to the babies—which I was only too glad to give.

Obviously my Mother will continue to be an obstruction and a threat to our secrecy until I can remove her from the premises. But how can I do that without arousing her suspicions? I am only glad that my Father isn’t here, or he would find out our work in no time. Of course, he would also have the discretion to keep it under his hat, unlike my Mother.

I hatched a notion this evening. We can observe a pattern of criminals being employed and then discarded by the so-called League of Shadows:
Billy Button--no better than he should be, I'm sure, but not deserving of the fate meted out by the ninjitsus.
The safe-breaker employed by the League of Shadows for the false attempt on the constabulary headquarters--abandoned there when the ninjistus had been defeated (or more likely had completed their mission and been immolated). The Shadows partisans had no plan or intention of retreiving this catspaw, and he is languishing in gaol or worse.

Niall Malloy, who has so smugly enmeshed himself into the ninjitsus' plans, and who will very likely be left by them to take the blame for the events at the house in Greenwich. He learned nothing from the way they tried to escape in their dirigible and leave his business to burn.

It seems to me distinctly unhealthy to work for the partisans of the Shadows. The criminal element is perhaps too self-serving to have identified the danger as yet, but they do have a strong sense of self-preservation. If the hazard were pointed out to them, if rumours started circulating about the fates of those who work for the ninjitsus, the Shadow partisans might find it harder to hire expendable catspaws. Perhaps Mr Chigwidgeon could help spread the word. I must put this idea forward in the morning.

Proceed to Choked with fury

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