1 May 1870

In spite of the late night I was able to go for a short ride this morning prior to breakfast. I must pursue getting my own horse once we return to London. I miss the exercise and companionship provided by horses.

After I had completed last night’s entry I went downstairs– I was still rather hungry– and was immediately drafted to help with research. It seemed everyone was quite awake and had decided to get some work done. We had brought the Baron’s writings home with, after several diligent hours of reading we discovered the following.

Mrs Cuthbert took on Andrew Scarisbrick’s journals. Miss Sinclair, Mr Ramsey, Sir Cosmo and I worked through as many of the late Baron’s journals as possible– each of us following a different part of the scheme.

The Plant: was discovered by Andrew in the Amazon Jungle. The sample on display in the greenhouse had not bloomed up until now and we are nearly certain that its extensive ability to lure animals to their deaths is a native ability and not one enhanced by the Baron’s meddling. It was given optimum growth conditions and it did just that. It is still not clear what the best way will be to destroy it without contaminating the countryside but we hope to do some experimentation later today. In addition, we hope to hear something from Our Employer in regards to the experts we have requested.

Although we have removed the agent of human mischief and malice in the household the rest of our task is quite daunting. The Plant (a type of bladderwort according to Miss Sinclair) is massive and will not be easy to remove.
The Guinea Pigs: were bred to provide the Baron with a ready supply of the nerve stimulant he used on the monkeys and dogs to increase their intelligence. It is possible that a side effect of breeding for animals that produced a quantity of this material also led to unexpected changes in their intelligence. However, they were the animals that the Baron interfered with the least.

The Monkeys and Dogs: the Baron’s main goal was to determine if he could increase intelligence in these already intelligent species. He used pre-natal injections of nerve stimulants to increase the size of the brain in the newborn. Unfortunately the nerve stimulants invariably caused tumours and abnormal growths in the mothers. As a side note: this is apparently what is happening to Owen’s mother as he was a product of the Baron’s experiments. The Baron had been working on dog breeding since he was a young man. His work with conventional breeding techniques was to lead to this later work.

The monkeys were subjected to further horrors– in addition to being forced to watch the vivisections of other animals– including other monkeys– in spite of the fact that the Baron noted their increasing awareness and sensitivity to events around them. He demonstrated no awareness of his own of what the intelligent monkeys might make of all this. Iota was a most recent experiment of the Baron’s and had been administered the nerve stimulant and had had surgery to graft additional brain tissue onto the newly formed mind. >From this information and the testimony given by Paolo Scarisbrick we deduce that these experiments, along with the unthinking torture the Baron effected gave Iota both the awareness of what was being done and the power to stop the Baron. Fortunately none of the other monkeys have been given the grafting treatment. Owen received the same experimental treatment as Iota but was not subjected to the harsh experiences of the laboratory monkeys.

It was very late once the above research was completed and documented. Sir Cosmo proposed to take care of writing the final report to Our Employer– noting that we still had work to do at the estate to wrap up this dreadful business.

That was last night. Now, this morning I must finish dressing for church. If I delay any further with this journal I will be late.

<Afternoon>

I have just finished a lovely lunch– the Haslingdon staff have gone out of their way to take good care of us– the meals have been particularly splendid. I briefed the rest of the League on activities at church. I discovered that Dr. Deeming is working with the Priest to plan his marriage– to whom he would not say and I did not want to press the matter– though I privately wonder if Clara Bertwhistle figures into that picture– for while she is not of his class, her child may inherit the lands and revenue of the Scarisbrick Estate– which borders onto his. I’m afraid I will have to watch the news for the next few weeks to find my answer.

I also spoke to Mr Cratchet after services. He informs me that Lestrade had cabled to say that he would arrive later this evening to take charge of Mr Perthwaite and the evidence against him.

Now we are on off the Scarisbrick estate to continue our researches. I have changed back into the dress I wore in our first encounter with the Plant. It still reeks of camphor and I am loathe to damage yet another dress.

<Evening>

What a day! I have just come from the bath and think I may go back to it once I have updated this record. My hair still reeks– at dinner I could smell nothing but its stink. Miss Sinclair and I spent most of the day in the greenhouse cutting the blooms off The Plant. We used them to test several methods of destroying The Plant while at the same time ensuring that it would not spread seeds over the surrounding countryside. We were able to confirm that fire does destroy the blooms without releasing seeds but we took the time to remove all the blooms before the main Plant removal started. To a certain extent these precautions did not avail us as Edward found a specimen of The Plant growing wild on the estate. Ruth was quite rightly appalled– she had Edward show her the site and she took the opportunity to inform the staff of the Estate of what the plants looked like in the wild and that it should be destroyed whenever discovered.

It is another piece of information to put into our report and we can hope that our cold winters will help keep any other rogue specimen small and contained. In addition to the disappointment of the above discovery, Miss Chigwidgeon had another accident, she stepped on a rake giving herself a slight bruise and sending the rake flying through the upper windows of the greenhouse– damaging what little containment we had been able to erect around the Plant. She felt terrible about it.

At one point during our work the Plant became so agitated that we had to remove ourselves from its reach. It seemed just to be the stimulation of the blossom removal and not any directed action by the Plant. The staff of the estate were mobilized and we began the process of chopping down and burning the plant. We have much more work to do tomorrow as the entire root system must be dug up and accounted for. If possible we would like to confirm the death of Lambda through exhumation.

Before we left for the day we had a word with Miss Glossop, in whose care the dogs have been left. We took care to explain the experiments that the Baron conducted and the effects they had on Owen and his mother. She was understandably surprised and dismayed. Sir Cosmo gave her contact information should have concerns or questions that she needed answers to later. She seems like a very sensible young woman and she cares a great deal for the dogs.

Her reaction reminded me how normal my own life was only a few months ago. Now I accept all manner of strangeness from talking dogs to talking spirits. What an odd world I live in.

02 May 1870, Monday

I did not sleep well last night. I had very Personal and Intimate dreams involving several of the men currently in my life. I might have dreamed the night away had it not been for the appearance of William in my dreams. It makes a certain amount of sense as he is the only man I shared myself with in that way but I was unable to sleep with those dreams. I did make some time for riding before breakfast and I must change and go down before the meal is served.

<Evening>

We spent another day dismantling the Plant. We had found the body of the unfortunate Lambda in the bog– enclosed in one of the Plant’s underground bladders. It was quite awful. Fortunately I could not smell anything by that point. We finished just as Mr Scuddamore and Mr Digby arrived from Our Employers office. They will take over the care of the monkeys and guinea pigs and complete the work we have begun here. We are released from our duties here and may return home tomorrow.

I did take time today to ensure that a screen had been erected in the monkey room to relive the monkeys from having to stare at the remains of their families in the jars of the Baron. Kappa is still despondent and has not eaten much since learning of Lambda’s death.

There is a wake of sorrow that has spread out from the actions of the Baron’s experiments. He denied his grandson the legitimacy Paolo craved and he force Iota into an unnatural awareness of the world around him. In a very real sense the Baron committed suicide– he took two unstable elements and mixed them with no thought as to the consequences.

I am– relieved to see my trunks packed and loaded for tomorrows journey to the train. It is my hope that Clara and her child will find a happier home here that ever her husband did.

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