06 April 1870
After an all-to-brief respite, Lady Ottoline responded to our request and offered to pick up our party in her carriage. Prior to her arrival, the afternoon post arrived and Miss Namaste received a letter, and while I was not privy to it's contents, her mood seemed to brighten considerably.
While Lady Ottoline and her assistant Miss Vicky were being introduced to the Cuthberts, Sir Cosmo made arrangements, at my bequest, to have Graves give Tattvik, Miss Sinclair, and me a tour of the estate's defences. Edward tagged along of course. The tour took the better part of an hour and there are several items I do not quite understand how to use yet but I feel reassured that I will be less likely to set something off unawares.
I spent the rest of the afternoon transcribing Madame Zephyrine's journal. It was quite tedious work but also satisfying. I learned that Madame believed that she had interrogated a CSJ who I believe to be the recently departed Mr. Clive St. John. She also indicated, with rather a lack of taste, and in an inappropriately crowing tone, that she had killed CSJ by means of a spell. It was horrible to read about-- knowing that her malice was directed at a real person.
Graves has just brought in the last post of the day-- in it was a letter from father's solicitor saying he was researching the matter I brought to his attention and that he would available to call on me at 7:30 this evening. I will sent a messenger at once to confirm the appointment.
I see that Caine has finally rescued Wooster from losing money from Wilson. They have been playing poker all afternoon and Wilson has quickly gone from a novice to an expert!
<Later>
The meeting with Mr. Rodenhurst was very productive! His clerk's had done some very through research and discovered that a large part of the pension father left me is derived from income from property left to me (through father) by Great-Aunt Hethelyn. The property is entailed and cannot be sold or mortgaged but it can and is being rented out– all but the cottage Auntie had lived in. She left strict instructions that it was to remain locked and be watched over by the property manager. No one was to enter and no one had a key. So far no one has tried to break in– apparently the locals say the place is haunted. Given my recent encounters with my Great-Aunt I'm not surprised!
It is distressing to realize that all of my scientific training and all of the rigorous methods of thought that father taught me are being over-turned by thing's quite out of my control or experience. I don't know how many other people wake up in their thirties realizing that life has turned out very differently than they planned!
I am afraid that these experiences will encourage my already fertile imagination and that I will be prone to jump to wild or inappropriate conclusions as a result. Of course when you start talking to dead people and seeing magical energies flowing around formerly-normal London– it is not hard to leap to wild conclusions.
Irregardless– I must make time to visit the cottage in Staffordshire soon.
07 April 1870
I fell asleep last night before recording the return of the party we sent out to rescue Mr. Land. It seems they were very successful. Not only did they succeed in rescuing him just as he was being abducted– they were also able to capture the French spy-master "Gerard" and turn him over to Our Employer's Office.
<Later>
Sir Cosmo came to me in quite a state– Edward is missing! I must find a pair of my Turkish Trousers for Miss Sinclair to wear as she proposes shining up the to the neighbouring rooftops to look for him.
<Later>
It is nearly quarter past three in the morning and my head is spinning. I am much too excited to sleep! As I mentioned earlier the day started with Edward being reported missing. I was not much help in the physical search for him (I fell off the side of the building Miss Sinclair seemed to climb with ease). Mrs. Cuthbert cast one of her searching spells looking for a vision of him but was only able to seem him trapped in cage chatting with his captors. Miss Sinclair was able to track him and confirm that, after a bit of a scuffle, he had been captured and carried off by more thuggees. As we were compiling our information (I was unable to get anything useful out of the prisoner Salmalin) a note arrived by the noon post that the Young Cobb would trade Edward, under flag of truce, for his employees, the "Bally Gun" (as Edward named it) and all drawings and plans of the gun.
Since we had no plan for finding Edward we decided to accept the Young Cobb's offer but take a few precautions ourselves. Wooster was sent off with the inestimable Caine to procure a Navy scout boat (for we were forewarned that the exchange would take place on the river).
Aunt Hethelyn, through Mrs. Cuthbert, recommended using the spell books captured from Madame Z and there we found a spell designed to reflect a curse back on its caster. That seemed a very sensible precaution– so with Mrs. Cuthbert's aid and advice I enchanted a bit of mirror she had and we gave it to Sir Cosmo to wear and pass to Edward during the rendevous.
We sorted ourselves into two groups. Miss Sinclair, Miss Namaste, and Sir Cosmo would present themselves at the place named in the ransom note to be transported to the exchange site along with our prisoners Hartley and Salmalin. Caine, Wooster, Wilson, Cuthbert, Mrs. Cuthbert and myself went on the patrol boat supplied by Wooster's Navy contacts. I noticed Wilson and Cuthbert loading several guns into the carriage as we left the house– I wish I could be of more direct assistance in the events to come. I did have Graves find me a very solidly build croquet mallet and I asked Tattvik to dig my fencing sword out of my trunk. I do not think we will be close enough to the action for either implement to be of much use but as I do not have experience with firearms they would just have to do.
Once on the River, Wooster acquitted himself very well– maybe I have underestimated him. But instead of getting ahead of myself I will try to record things as they happened. Sir Cosmo's party was picked up by a disreputable looking boat and ferried over to a large barge near the mouth of the river. We followed at a discreet distance. It was full night by the time things were underway. We got as close to the barge as we could without revealing ourselves– though we did have to remind Wooster to keep silence– his voice is very penetrating and it felt as though people on both banks would be able to hear him. I am sure our own anxiety magnified the problem.
We watched through spyglasses as the Young Cobb (who we later found out was named Jerrold Moriarty) offered our party tea and tried to pretend to be civilised. Sir Cosmo was able to slip the mirror to Edward under the guise of giving him some tea and I must assume that it worked– but again I get ahead of the story.
It was Wilson who first noticed that the entire barge was wired with explosives– enough he said to turn the floating contrivance into matchsticks. He and Wooster debated for a bit– in quiet voices this time– who would swim over, dispatch the guards, and defuse the barge. I asked Caine if that was a good idea (for it seemed to me that it was quite foolish) and he was able to convince them to hold off on immediate action.
We returned to our posts and watched further. Edward was freed and he and Miss Sinclair boarded the transport boat while Miss Namaste and Sir Cosmo dallied to speak to Moriarty– just as it seemed that everything was going smoothly and as Sir Cosmo turned his back on Moriarty– the fiend snapped the Gun together and Miss Namaste tackled Sir Cosmo at the same moment Salmalin pushed the Gun up and away from Sir Cosmo's back. Chaos erupted on the barge.
From our ship Wilson and Cuthbert took aim as one and fired at Moriarty. Cuthbert's shot took him in the chest while a rocked propelled parasol picked up Moriarty and threw his hopefully-lifeless-body into the River.
I did not see much more as I pulled Mrs. Cuthbert down in the boat and we stayed out of the way for the duration of the shooting. I felt our boat's cannon fire and later learned that Wooster was quite a good shot as he and his team sank the paddle wheeled boat that was also tied up to the barge.
Sir Cosmo, Miss Namaste, Edward, and Miss Sinclair got safely away but not before being rescued a second time by Salmalin. It was fortunate that later we were able to rescue him from the water. We had rendezvoused with the transport boat by then and Miss Namaste spotted him in the water and Miss Sinclair pulled him out (after wresting the boat hook from Edward). I had quite a challenging time applying first aid and I was sorely afraid that he would die after all the good he had done for us. But then Mrs. Cuthbert knelt next to us and held her hands over him and I could see something moving from her into him and a bit of colour returned to his face and his breathing eased.
Once ashore, Salmalin was rushed off to hospital and we were met by Our Employer himself. It seems that he had effected the rescue of Mr. Frazer and was now free to meet with us. Wooster and Caine were debriefed first. While the rest of us waited and were introduced to a Captain Moriarty, brother to the-hopefully-finally-dead Jerrard Moriarty. Captain Moriarty's career had been quite devastated by his brother's choice of occupation. Once Caine and Wooster returned we were able to piece together the mysteries that had brought us all together. Here are all the threads as we untangled them:
Jerrold Moriarty/Cobb was after the "Bally Gun". His agent Hartley had apparently stolen it from a Prussian inventor a while ago. Hartley presumably murdered the inventor and stole his notes and the prototype. Hartley, acting for Cobb, murdered Lord Singleford (I want to note here that Mrs. Cuthbert had me quite confused as to the spelling of the unfortunate Lord's name and it is here presented correctly) and Mr. Arthur Milford.
Hartley's target at the Milford apartment was Mr. Lionel Milford. Lord Singleford and Mr. L Milford were both agents of Our Employer's who were working on the ‘Etheric Pulse Pistol' . Lord Singleford had acquired some of the plans and a piece of alloy instrumental in making the gun and those pieces had been turned over to L. Milford (a noted metallurgist and friend of my father) for analysis. My father was working on discovering how the Gun was powered which is why we were experimenting with autinite batteries. Our Employer confirmed that father was murdered with the Gun. Sir Cosmo apologized for not being able to bring the evil-doers to trial. I think mother will be happier this way. She is distressed enough that father died. I do not think a trial would have helped matters any.
The vision of Lord Singleford's death and the ransacking of his offices both at home and at parliament was seen in a vision by Mrs. Cuthbert so she and her Uncle came home from their world tour by the fastest means available. This is how she and her Uncle were drawn into these strange affairs. Our Employer confirmed that Lord Singleford's offices had been ransacked as Mrs. Cuthbert had seen in her vision.
Mr. Hans Bopp, an agent for the King of Prussia, entered England without the authority of his king (and will have quite the difficult time as a result according to Our Employer). Bopp was also attempting to regain control of the plans for the gun. As a result, Wilson, Wooster and Caine had their encounter with him. Bopp also captured Mr. Frazer and attempted to wrest information from him. Frazer was rescued by Our Employer and his team and is now in the hospital recovering.
To confuse matters, Mr. Arthur Milford was also an agent of Our Employer's working on an entirely different matter. That of the plans for the ‘sinkable boat' of Captain Nemo. Mr. A. Milford and Mr. Clive St. John were working together to smuggle the plans out of France and into the hands of the British government.
Madame Zephyrine and her son Jacques were engaged by the French– specifically by the agent named "Gerard" to find out how much A. Milford and St. John knew and then kill them. They were also ordered to capture or eliminate Mr Ned Land if possible. Madame Zephyrine murdered Mr. St. John either through poison or magic and according to her journals she interrogated him through his dreams prior to killing him. Miss Sinclair was drawn into this affair by arriving the morning of her appointment to find that Mr. St. John unexpectedly dead.
Presumably Madame also had a plan for killing Mr. A. Milford but did not need to carry it out as Hartley and his associate McGrody killed him– mistaking him for his brother Lionel. Just before he was killed, Mr. Arthur Milford, gave his cigarette case to Edward (or threw it out the window) and Edward brought it home to Sir Cosmo– drawing the household into the mystery– including Miss Namaste, and Graves.
It was well past midnight when we returned home to Sir Cosmo's house. Our Employer has given us the name League of the Golden Clematis for record keeping purposes. I think I shall shorten it to LGC for the purposes of this record. Our new name is beautiful but rather cumbersome.
As an odd closure to our adventures I asked Edward about Wilhelmina. He continued to maintain that she was safe and revealed that Jerrold Moriarty maintained that he was Edward's grandfather! This statement is bourne out by the cage that Edward was kept in that seemed to overmatch his odd physical abilities. Sir Cosmo reports that it would not be the kind of thing you could put together on a moment's notice. Edward then revealed that he and Wilhelmina were both Moriarty's grandchildren and that they shared the same parents but were not brother and sister. It is all very confusing and made more so by the lateness of the hour and by Edward's mode of speech.
I made certain that Edward knew to tell Wilhelmina that she was welcome with us and that we would like to meet her and then I retired to my room. I have come to the end of my account and of my stamina and will now retire for some very well earned rest.
08 April 1870
Mrs. Cuthbert and I spent the morning visiting Salmalin in the hospital while Miss Sinclair visited with Frazer. Salmalin spent most of the time unconscious but Miss Sinclair apparently had a very nice visit.
I will make arrangements this afternoon to travel to Staffordshire. Perhaps Mrs. Cuthbert would like to come along? I don't know though– for while I feel that it is foolish to go on my own part of me would like to see my Aunt's cottage in private– as it were. Perhaps Miss Namaste would like to go– I enjoy her company and don't feel quite so strange when I explain things to her...
Nothing needs to be decided immediately– though I will send a note off to Mother explaining that I will be staying longer than I first thought. I am sure John will be thrilled– not to mention Emily. Fortunately she gets along with Mother– I think she is more to Mother's taste than I ever was.
Perhaps Miss Namaste would be willing to be my reason for staying. Edward has Miss Sinclair to look after him but Miss Namaste is a woman grown but without a woman to keep her company and teach her the finer arts (not that I have any such intention). That might be a reason Mother could accept for my staying on undefinedly...
I will run the idea by Miss Namaste and Sir Cosmo after lunch.
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