28 May 1870

~Tea Time~

We have been home less than ten hours and already we are running about the city! Things are quiet at the moment as we are waiting for some information to come in. In the meantime I must update this record from the beginning.

From the very moment that we set foot on land this morning things began to go awry. As Dr Wilson stepped off of the gang-way and onto solid ground I noticed that the Mystical Aura of the land rippled away from him. I had never seen anything like it.

Miss Chigwidgeon claimed it was a spirit bird. For some reason, Dr Wilson shot at it. The shot was dead-on as usual, however, the Raven, instead of being annihilated, turned into a flock of Ravens and flew away. I asked Mr Ramsey what it could be, but he was distracted did not give much of an answer. Mrs Cuthbert indicated that the Aura change was possibly some sort of warning ward, alerting someone to Dr Wilson’s return. This did not bode well.

Fortunately the rest of the trip home was uneventful. I slept for the first half of the train journey to London and then Miss Sinclair pointed out a newspaper report of a series of terrible murders taking place in the Stepney District of London. We spent some time discussing the few facts we had and then I turned to my correspondence and wrote a letter to my Mother and Anne to let them know that I had returned safely.

Also, while we were on the train, Mr Ramsey, Mrs Cuthbert and I made a Curse Mirror for Dr Wilson.

We were met at Victoria Station by the pleasing sight of Graves and two strapping young men who were later introduced as the new footmen, David and Stuart. It was quite a relief to turn our baggage over to them and know that Graves would have some assistance loading all of it into the carriages.

Unfortunately Our Employer was called away to confer with Lord Clarendon so the distressing Sir Phillip Bond was there to meet the train and take Sir Cosmo off for debriefing. Fortunately Sir Cosmo seems more than able to handle him.

Mr Cuthbert and Mrs Cuthbert took their own carriage to the house of Mr Cuthbert’s brother, where they have been staying since their return from their world tour several months ago.

The rest of us made our way to the carriages and all of the ladies, except Miss Gordon who doesn’t know any better, were relived that Mr Bond had brought his own transportation and none of us would be forced to endure his company for any length of time. The ride, sans Mr Bond, was very pleasant. I was looking forward to a few days rest before our next assignment.

As the carriages were being unloaded and all of our belongings were returned to their proper places, Graves introduced us to the household staff he hired during our voyage. In addition to Graves, Pasty Oaks, and my own Tattvik Pratijnya, we have a cook, Mrs Murphy, two housemaids, Molly and Helen, and the aforementioned footmen, David and Stuart. Pasty has been promoted to parlourmaid with the arrival of the other maids. Tattvik spends much of the day at Lady Ottoline’s School and seems to have attached herself to Graves as a general assistant, doing whatever is necessary around the house to help out.

There was an enormous stack of letters awaiting us. Fortunately only two of them were for me, the bulk of the stack was for Sir Cosmo. Miss Sinclair sat down rather suddenly upon reading one of her letters, however, by that point, I was distracted by my own correspondence.

Sir Cosmo had sent a visitor to Mother in my absence, and while she made no reference to his name or profession, both she and Anne, in their separate letters, remarked that the visit had quite upset Emily and she had gone on to Upset Mother and, of course, Anne was upset on Mother’s behalf. Emily said some quite disparaging things about Sir Cosmo and by inference about Father. I was quite angry at Emily by the time I had finished the letters. Sir Cosmo was home by then so I asked to speak with him. He invited me into his study. I noticed that the enormous pile of mail had now been transferred to his desk and his thin hair was standing quite on end.

I tried to explain what had happened as a result of his mysterious visitor but found that I was being rather more accusatory than I had planned. I am afraid that my Anger at Emily was spilling over into my conversation with Sir Cosmo. I was in the midst of explaining Emily’s reaction and my mother’s distress when Sir Cosmo broke in to explain.

It seems that he had intended a surprise for me and had sent an Artist up to the house. He then presented me with two lovely cameos, one of my mother and one of my father, taken from the artists work. I couldn’t help it, I was overcome by his gesture, and had to retire to my rooms. I am now embarrassed at the scene I caused. I don’t even have the excuse of having just survived an attack by an evil Undead Creature.

I miss my father desperately. Being immersed adventures since February, not long after Father died, I do not allow myself much time for reflection on my loss. Mother and I are approaching this from opposite perspectives. She is living in the same house that she and Father shared all those years, and to make it worse, she is no longer Mistress of that House. She has to put up with Emily changing things and, probably, acting as if Mother were already dead herself. While I only think of Father when I can’t help it, Mother is reminded of his loss every day.

There is nothing I can do about their situation, however, though I do wish Mother was more willing to make a place for herself in the House. I keep thinking that I should write to John, but then Emily would read the letter and No Good would come of it. At least John apologized for Emily’s behaviour. I wish Father had thought to provide for Mother in the way that he provided for me. Having her own Income would give Mother more independence and give Emily less power over her.

Unfortunately that is all the time I can spare for personal reflection on the matter. As today’s events quickly moved from domestic matters to our more usual running about the city in search of information.
After I had emerged from my rooms, and thanked Sir Cosmo more properly for his gift, Miss Chigwidgeon came to ask my assistance regarding some letters she had received from Nigel Graham. It seems that the young man has been having very accurate dreams about our adventures while we were away, when there was no natural way from him to know what we were about. Miss Chigwidgeon is worried that he may be being exposed to things beyond his control.

I recalled Mr Rupert Pryce’s dreams about his brother and suggested that we bring Nigel in for a consultation with Mr Ramsey. From my own experience it seems that gifts of this type would be easier to manage if one had early training in what to expect. She agreed with this plan and we sent off letters inviting both Mr Ramsey and Nigel to tea tomorrow.

Not two minutes after Miss Chigwidgeon set off to write her letter, Miss Sinclair approached me with a letter that purported to be from her cousin Peter Sinclair, the Naturalist for whom she is the corresponding secretary. She confessed to me that she was actually the Naturalist and that she had been using her Cousin’s name all these years in order to get her work into the public eye. This did not surprise me. I have seen her working diligently on various papers and have seen no sign that she was collaboration with anyone in this work. Ruth is a clever woman who deserves to have her accomplishments recognized.

Her cousin has not been heard from for many years and she had rather hoped that he had vanished permanently. Miss Sinclair wondered if I could discover if this was some sort of hoax by some unknown person. She was particularly vexed as the letter claimed that Mr Sinclair had been invited to give a paper in Vienna.

Whoever wrote the letter must know that Mr Sinclair is not a naturalist. I do not know if the letter was a secret plea for Miss Sinclair to send on some of her new work so that Mr Sinclair could perpetuate the hoax or if it merely the beginning of some nefarious scheme. I agreed to survey the letter by Mystic Means and also to examine it to see if there was ay indication that the letter was some sort of Code.

This is the first time I preformed the History spell on my own and I was pleasantly surprised at how well it went. I was particularly pleased that I did not set the letter on fire, as seems to have happened so frequently of late.

I was able to determine that the letter was written by three men, all of whom seemed to be working together voluntarily, and having a wonderful time doing it. The man I saw most frequently in the vision bore a striking resemblance to Miss Sinclair.

I relayed this information to Miss Sinclair and she said that the man I saw was, most likely, her cousin. She could not be certain, as no one in the family has seen him for the past 14 years. We were both unsure of what to do next, and I believe Miss Sinclair plans to talk to Sir Cosmo about it, as another of her cousins is in the diplomatic service and may be need to be alerted to Mr Sinclair’s actions. She also mentioned receiving a cryptic but very thoughtful note from Mr. Frazer. We do not know where he is or what he is doing, however, he is still alive and seems to think very highly of Ruth. I am praying for his swift and safe return.
After lunch, Miss Chigwidgeon asked if I would accompany her, in my role as chaperone, to her father’s house in the East End of London. After a bit of dithering over what to wear, I settled on my Turkish trousers with one of my long overskirts. The outfit looks more conventional than just the trousers with short skirt but I could have full freedom of movement if necessary.

Once I came downstairs, I found that Edward had agreed to drive our party and that Miss Chigwidgeon had enlisted Salmalin in his role as bodyguard. Miss Sinclair and Miss Gordon accompanied us as far as the museum. They wanted to see if there had been other newspaper reports of the murders we read about earlier today.

It was confirmed that Mr Chigwidgeon lived in one of the poorer parts of the city. When we first arrived in her neighbourhood I was discouraged by the rudeness of the shopkeepers. They all began to close up as soon as we approached. I heard several of them whisper warnings to each other that “the Bull” had returned. It was rather alarming, until a young man dashed out of a restaurant, which was not closing, with a plate of food for Miss Chigwidgeon, and saying how much her presence would grace his establishment, as long as she choose not to actually enter the premises. I heard someone behind him mutter, “besides, it’s taken us two years to replace all the plates she broke that week.” Apparently Miss Chigwidgeon’s accidents have made her rather notorious in her home neighbourhood.

Eventually we came to Mr Chigwidgeon’s apartment house. Before we could mount the stairs to his home, a Mrs Gargeya came out of the downstairs apartment and was very welcoming to Miss Chigwidgeon. It was nice to see that someone remembered her fondly. Mrs Gargeya asked if we had come to visit Miss Chigwidgeon’s new mother. This took both of us by surprise, as Mr Chigwidgeon had not left his daughter any details of why he wanted to see her in the note he left with Graves. Mrs Gargeya noticed our surprise and mentioned that Mr Chigwidgeon was out working. She very kindly invited us in for tea and we accepted.

Mrs Gargeya rules over a house full of daughters-in-law, most of whom she put to work upon our arrival. My mother could learn something from this woman. We had a lovely tea, though it was somewhat difficult to come up with topics of conversation that were not inherently awkward. During a quiet moment, one of the daughters-in-law brought in a new woman and introduced her as Mrs Chigwidgeon.

Mrs Chigwidgeon is an Indian with much the same colouring and build as Miss Chigwidgeon. She was born in London and her first name is Balla. I would be terribly surprised if she is more than two years older than Miss Chigwidgeon. Mrs Chigwidgeon indicated that she had been trying to get Mr Chigwidgeon to invite his daughter to a proper family meal ever since they had been married. She seemed genuinely happy to see Miss Chigwidgeon, if a little perturbed that we had shown up on her doorstep with no warning. Miss Chigwidgeon indicated that it was quite out of character for Mr Chigwidgeon to pay a visit to her employer, or to her at all, so she had been concerned that something of a ill nature was disturbing her father.

Suddenly, I heard Wooster’s distinctive voice out in the street. He was claiming that he was certain of the way to the circus now. I excused myself and went to see what was going on.

Lieutenant Wooster, Mr Caine, and Dr Wilson were in a horsed carriage just outside in the street. Apparently they were looking for Willy Python’s Penny Circus. They asked what I was doing in this part of town, and, upon explaining our errand to find Rip Chigwidgeon they indicated that they too were tracking him down.

Apparently, one of Dr Wilson’s employees had been murdered the night before. It was the same murder that Ruth had read about on the train this morning. The men were out looking for information on the murders and had found out that Mr Chigwidgeon had already talked to one man, who is, so far, the only witness to any of the murders. Mr Chigwidgeon had indicated that he was going to the circus to find out more about some peculiar knives the murderer had carried.

I informed Miss Chigwidgeon that we had an idea of where her father was to be found. We took our leave of Mrs Gargeya, Mrs Chigwidgeon, and the daughters-in-law and joined forces with the men.

Before we left I took a moment to remind Dr Wilson of the strange events at the dock this morning. His curse mirror was still working. I looked around using my Mystic sight and was not terribly surprised to find that the Raven from this morning was perched on a nearby building. I also saw, just out of the corner of my eye, a strange man slide around the corner into the alley. His aura reminded me of the terrible necromancer that we faced back on St Damien Island. I really hope we do not find ourselves facing the Undead any time soon.

We made our way to the Circus and found Mr Chigwidgeon in the midst of a street fight. He had subdued three men. Then one of them came at him from behind with a knife. I called out a warning. Wooster shot the weapon out of the man’s hand. Mr Chigwidgeon stopped him with one punch.

I am still unsure in my mind if Lieutenant Wooster made the right decision in shooting at the man attacking Mr Chigwidgeon. Miss Chigwidgeon did not seem to be alarmed at her father’s predicament. On the Island, with so many enemies about us who were already dead it was much simpler to determine a course of action. After all, how wrong can it be to kill something that is already dead and has risen from the grave through foul magik? It points once again for our need for training– if we could stop the crises coming long enough to receive some training. When is it our right to use force? Certainly if we are being attacked, but beyond that, what duty do we have to protect those who come into our sphere of influence? Given the sheer number of bystanders in a city the size of London how do we protect ourselves and the public from our actions? I really must write to Our Employer regarding these matters.

Now is not the time however as I have much more to record before we sit down for tea.

Mr Chigwidgeon is an enormous man and most of his brains seem to be in his muscles. While I bandaging the man Wooster shot, Miss Chigwidgeon took her father aside for a quick conversation, which I interrupted when the man I was bandaging started to show signs of waking up. All three men were then locked in a room by Mr Chigwidgeon. Apparently they had started a fight in a nearby bar and he had taken upon himself to break it up on behalf of the owner, who is a friend of his.
Mr Caine spoke with Mr Chigwidgeon to confirm what he had learned from a man named, of all things, “One-eyed Billy”, no wonder Miss Chigwidgeon gives such credence to her magazines if she grew up surrounded by men with such colourful names.

Introductions complete, we all went into the Circus together. When we arrived the knife thrower and his assistant were on stage. Part of me wanted to comment on the scandalous nature of the woman’s clothing (or lack thereof) however, I realized that was merely the habit of many years and not something I truly believed anymore. We must each wear the clothes most suited to our occupations and I am more and more convinced that having an independent income is vital for all women if this society is to improve.

Once they completed their act we made our way en masse to the backstage area. Mr Chigwidgeon had already been in this afternoon and spoken to the knife thrower but he had forgotten which shop the man had directed him to. The knife thrower was most helpful and suggested that a man carrying two knives in the manner that our witness had described would be most likely in need of someone to make a custom scabbard to hold them. He indicated that the man for that kind of work had a shop over by Old Tower Road. We thanked him and returned to the open air.

Miss Chigwidgeon suggested that Mr Chigwidgeon accompany us to the leather-worker’s shop as he seemed intent on pursuing his own investigation. While we had him in the relative privacy of our carriage, Miss Chigwidgeon and I talked to Mr Chigwidgeon and indicated that we would prefer he not maim or kill witnesses and suspects during the course of his investigation.

Miss Chigwidgeon indicated that she has tried to convey this concept in the past but has not been successful in the past. We shall see if it takes root this time. Mr Chigwidgeon seems devoted to his daughter, and, within the limits of his understanding, he seems to have taken on his current job as a way to impress her by ‘doing good.’

It is easy to see how Miss Chigwidgeon survived her upbringing to be the lovely young woman I know her to be. Not only is she more intelligent than her father, but he obviously cares a great deal for her good opinion. I wish there was some way to steer Mr Chigwidgeon into a more productive life. I fear for his life after this. Meeting all the souls that cry for vengeance against Mr Chigwidgeon made me think that he was irredeemable. Now that I have met him, I am not so sure.

As we approached Old Tower Road we saw smoke rising. With a sinking sense of certainty we approached the Leather-Worker’s only to find that it was fully engulfed in flame. Honestly, what is it with our opponents and their need to set things ablaze? First there were all the fires that were set off in response to M. Zephyrine’s Wild Spell, then there was the death-trap set by the Young Cobb, that backfired and blew him up in the middle of the Thames, then there was the spirit of Paolo, egged on by the evil monkey Iota who set fire to Mr Ditteridge’s rooms and now someone had set fire to this shop. At least the Cobb had the sense to set up his explosives in the middle of the river.

A bucket brigade had already formed and there was talk that the shop had been set alight by a rocket. Many of our party leaped to help in any way they could. I stayed in the carriage and asked Great-Aunt Hethalyn for help, for the only way I could think to stop the fire quickly was by using magic, however, I could think of no spell that would aid me in this effort. Fortune was with me and Hethalyn was able to suggest a spell that manipulates the elements. I gathered my power and cast the spell. To my astonishment, I was able to put the entire fire out!

I ran for the building to see if there was any chance that the owner had not been in when his business went up in flames. Not only was that not the case but it was very clear to my untrained eye that he had been tied to a chair and kerosine spread about the place to help the fire along. It was horrible. I wish we had been closer and that I had been able to save this man from this horrible death. I was just looking about to see if his receipt book might have been saved from the blaze by a drawer or a safe when I heard a commotion outside the building.

Inspector Bradstreet of the metropolitan police, whom I had met during the investigation of the death of Mr Milford, and who at that time had been in the company of Mr Frazer, and was much the better for it in my opinion, was trying to arrest Dr Wilson for this terrible murder. Even more vexing, he would not listen to me when I explained that Dr Wilson had not been alone for the entire day and in fact had been on his way here with seven other people when the fire started. Inspector Bradstreet had leapt to the conclusion, upon hearing that a rocket was involved, that Dr Wilson, or ‘Kid Rocket’ as he is popularly known, must be the perpetrator.

Help came from a completely unexpected source. At the very moment Inspector Bradstreet was trying to haul Dr Wilson off a man spoke up and said that he had been following us all day and Dr Wilson could not have been the one to fire the rocket into the building. The man’s name is Mr Simon MacGregor and he is quite handsome in a rough-cut way. He is known to the police, though not in the same way that Rip Chigwidgeon is Known to the Police. He apparently was not following us directly, but rather a man who had been following Dr Wilson all day.

At that point Inspector Bradstreet seemed to be willing to listen to what I had to say. I showed him the shell of the building and the corpse, which now I cannot believe I was able to handle looking at in such a calm manner. Perhaps, after seeing thousands of Undead arrayed against us during our last adventure my standards for horror have changed. All the same it makes me rather ill as I think on it now. My dreams had just started to return to normal.

As I finished with Inspector Bradstreet, Edward got my attention. Apparently he had scaled a nearby building, one that most witnesses agreed the rocket had come from, and he had found a newly used safety match. Mr Caine helped me find a way up to the roof that did not involve climbing sheer walls. For the second time today, I cast the History Spell and was granted a vision of the match’s owner.

The man was in his forties with dark-to-graying hair and a small mustache. He was wearing American style clothes, including a strange broad-brimmed hat. He carried an ornate pipe. I saw him light the pipe with the match, take aim at the Leather-Worker’s store, and then light the fuse on the firework rocket. It shot from his hand and set the store ablaze instantly.

I took out my sketchbook and sketched as many details as I could before the vision faded. Mr Caine then helped me return to the ground safely. I was then puzzled as to what to do with this information. I know from own ignorance of the Mystical world before my Great-Aunt’s powers were thrust upon me that, while, I seem now to be surrounded by people who take magik for granted, I know that this is not the case in society at large. I wanted to get this information into the hands of the police as soon as possible, but in such a way that they would trust the information I was giving them. Inspector Bradstreet is already pre-disposed to ignore me and any information I might have.

With great trepidation, I approached Mr MacGregor. I told him what I knew and how I knew it. To my utter shock, not only was he respectful of me, he seemed to take my information seriously, and he commented that men often overlook the fact that women are intelligent. I managed to give him my card before retreating to the carriage in confusion. I had been so certain that he would not take me seriously that I was not prepared for it when he did. During our conversation he confirmed that my description matched the man he had been following all day. The man had slipped away when Dr Wilson met up with Miss Chigwidgeon and myself and Mr MacGregor had hopped that the man would reappear if he continued to follow us.

The man has gone by the name of Sentenza in the past and is a bounty hunter from the Western United States. Mr MacGregor reports that his eyes are an icy blue. I could not see his eyes in my vision. Sentenza is a particularly unpleasant man and it was thought that he had died. From his aura, I am not sure that he is truly alive, any more than the necromancer, Igrazel, was.

Our party came together once again and I pressed Dr Wilson to think of anyone of this description who might have a grudge against him. He could think of no one, but he did admit to one or more bounties on his head back in the United States due to various ‘mis-understandings.’
I did not know what to say at this point, other than to remind him that he should be careful. It seems, given Sentenza’s actions, that he is after more than just a bounty from Dr Wilson.

Mr Chigwidgeon took his leave of us as we were preparing to return home. I asked him to let us know if he should find out anything more about these matters and reminded to be careful on his own behalf and that of any witnesses or suspects he might encounter.

We returned home just as Mr Cuthbert, Mr Ramsey, Mrs Cuthbert, Miss Sinclair, and Miss Gordon arrived from their outing. We are to meet for tea in a few minutes and brief each other on the days events.

~evening~

Tea has come and gone and we are awaiting more information from our contact, Mr MacGregor. Mrs Cuthbert, Mr Ramsey, and I have cast a Protection Spell upon the entire household and made Curse Mirrors for the household. I have every confidence that the staff Graves hired will be up to the task of dealing with the strange things that befall our household. All this activity was presaged not by our briefing at tea, but by the odd events that followed.

I will start by recording the information that was presented at tea time.

Sir Cosmo had spent the day attempting to answer the massive pile of mail that came in while we were away. It seems that the people of his Grandfather’s District are taking the rumours of Lord Greyminster’s ill health to heart and are beginning to appeal to Sir Cosmo for resolutions to their disputes and answers to their questions. Sir Cosmo will inherit the lesser of his Grandfather’s titles should Lord Greyminster ever actually die. However, my father always said Lord Greyminster had vowed to outlive anyone who voted against him in Parliament and that list only grows with each passing year.

Sir Cosmo is now being forced to take on some of the work his position as heir demands. Several people at table suggested that he acquire a corresponding secretary to handle the routine inquiries. Both my name and Miss Sinclair’s were suggested as possible candidates, however, neither of us were interested. I was honoured that anyone would think me organized enough to handle such a position, however, given the frequency with which our lives our turned upside-down, I do not think such a position would suit me. Miss Sinclair has her hands full with Edward in addition to our notable adventures.

Talk then moved to the Cuthbert’s morning. They had apparently returned to something of a scene at the Mr Cuthbert’s brother’s house. The other Mrs Cuthbert was fed up with Spencer’s hunting trophies and had asked that he find his own residence. Happily, the house next door to Sir Cosmo’s is available. The Cuthbert’s spent the morning closeted with estate agents and attorneys and will take possession of the house, which currently stands empty, in the next few weeks.

Once they finished with that chore they stopped by Sir Cosmo’s only to find that we were all out and about. Mr and Mrs Cuthbert set off in their carriage for the museum to meet up with Miss Sinclair and Miss Gordon at the Library of the British Museum.

Meanwhile, Mr Ramsey had returned to the Watcher Chapter House to check in and debrief with Mrs Godwin. Rupert and Andrew Pryce accompanied him. I did hope that they would not give Rupert too much of a hard time about returning to the Watchers. I did ask Mr Ramsey to see if, while he was there, Mrs Godwin could accommodate me with an appointment in the near future, as I have some questions to ask her.

After he had been debriefed, he ran into a Mr Post who was working on researching an artifact that was stolen from Saint Eglantine’s Church. This relic dated from the 6th Century and took the form of a bronze sword in the shape of a cross. According to legend, St Eglantine, a young girl, had a vision that she could save the village of Stepney from a plague that was possessing it if she carried the relic, covered in blood, throughout the city. She and some of her followers came upon the King of the land engaging in a pagan ritual, there was a fight and he fell upon the sword and died. St Eglantine, recognizing the image from her vision, had the sword mounted on a pole and paraded through the streets. It is said that all who looked upon the sword were cured.

Mr Cuthbert then commented that he doubted that the writers of the story had asked every person if they had looked at the cross prior to not dying. Only he said it in a much dryer and wittier way that I cannot capture in this report.

Miss Sinclair and Miss Gordon met up with Mr Ramsey and Mr Post at the Library. They did some research there and then proceeded to the church for a more in depth examination of the scene of the theft.

Mrs Cuthbert and Mr Ramsey preformed a History spell at the site where the sword had been kept. In addition to learning who took the sword, the learned a great deal about it’s history.

The sword had been used in pagan rituals of the 6th Century. Once the King converted to Christianity he ended the practices and worship that used the sword. Later, when he died, his body was stolen, cut up, and buried in all corners of the District as was the pagan custom. His son, who was a Christian, was angered by this desecration and started a witch hunt to determine how the body had been stolen and where the pieces were buried. Eventually the King’s mother came forward to tell him that she had allowed her husband’s body to be treated in this way because it would bring ill-luck on the kingdom if the old tradition was not kept. The son had his mother burned as a witch. As she was on the pyre she cursed him to be forever known as the killer of unprotected women. He said he would willingly be an executioner of sinners for God. In his later years, many things went wrong in the kingdom and he tried to return to the old ways to atone for what he had done. He was the King who was killed by St. Eglantine’s followers. Since that time, whenever the sword has been stolen for profit or used for evil magik the Ghost of the son had risen and killed ‘unrepentant women’ usually prostitutes in Stepney, until the sword has been returned to it’s place in the church. The Ghost usually manifests dressed appropriately for the time that it is in. If this vision is to be believed then the killer of the women may be this ghost and the man who set it free is none other than Sentenza.

While Mr Ramsey and Mrs Cuthbert were casting this spell. Miss Sinclair and Miss Gordon distracted the Sexton. The learned, in addition to a through history of the church, that a man had come in Thursday last to view the relic, which is kept in a locked reliquary. The vicar of the church met with him and then locked the relic back up. That was the last time it was seen. When the vicar checked on it on Saturday it was gone. The man who viewed the relic had signed his name “M. Gabriel of New Mexico, U.S.A” in the guest register.

As already noted, Miss Chigwidgeon, Edward, Salmalin and myself were out looking for Mr Chigwidgeon during this time, and Lieutenant Wooster, Mr Caine, and Dr Wilson were informally investigating the murder of one of his employees, along with that of a prostitute. Prior to last night’s double murder, all of the victims had been prostitutes according to Miss Sinclair’s research. I will not reprise our findings as they were recorded earlier today.

This sword appears to be a powerful magik talisman. If Dr Wilson’s opponent has stolen it he may be using it to augment his own power. We do know, from Mr Ramsey and Mrs Cuthbert, that the man who stole the sword saw the ghost manifest itself and did not seem at all concerned about what he had loosed upon the world.

I suggested to Mr Ramsey that he send a note to Mrs Godwin, asking her for any information on the sword and, most particularly, how the curse could be undone.

As tea was ending, Graves came in and told me that a Mr MacGregor was calling for me. We moved from the tea table to the parlour and I introduced Mr MacGregor to our household. He did not have much new to report. He has been following Sentenza, for the past few days. Sentenza is a known criminal and as I mentioned before, is supposed to be dead. We asked Mr MacGregor to get for us the description that the police had taken from the vicar of St Eglantine’s Church, rather than bother the vicar again. MacGregor gave us a list of aliases Sentenza has been known to use. These include: Michael Gabriel, S. Gabriel, Mr Black, Mr Angel and Sentenza. It is not known which of these, if any, are his real name.

Mr MacGregor kindly accepted our errand and our party began to prepare to go out in search of Sentenza and the sword. This brings us up to the present moment and I shall close this record and go downstairs to see if Mr MacGregor has returned.

~later~

I found Miss Chigwidgeon surrounded by servants holding trays of jewels upon my arrival downstairs. Sir Cosmo had apparently purchased everything the jeweller had indicated that Miss Chigwidgeon had admired on our trip to the jewellery shop, such a very long time ago. The mass of jewels would be appropriate if she had been his daughter and so I advised her, for she was looking a little stunned. I do think that Sir Cosmo is somewhat over generous sometimes. Miss Sinclair and I discussed it and it is, as if, after being in self-imposed exile for so many years, Sir Cosmo has woken up and decided to make up for lost time. I now fully understand the meaning of the phrase, “generous to a fault.”

Just as the jewels had been locked away in the safe, Mr MacGregor reappeared, rather the worse for drink. He said something about needing to drink to understand someone named Strawberry. MacGregor had two pieces of information for us. The first, that M. Gabriel of the guest registry matched the description of Sentenza. The second, that Sentenza was just outside the property this very moment and something smelled strongly of pickling brine.

Suddenly all was chaos. Most of the League disappeared out the back door in search of Edward. Salmalin was fighting something in the yard. Mrs Cuthbert and I were pushing the wards out to encompass Edward and the new property and trying to strengthen them to keep bad things out.

Once all the noise had stopped it was determined that a Thuggee (Cousin George to Edward) had broken into the property. Salmalin had fought him until the Thuggee pointed out a ‘spirit owl’ flying into the property. It took the form of a man, one of the Red Indians of the United States and Salmalin and his temporary ally tried to fight it off. It turned again into an owl and tried to fly away. Ruth threw a rock at it, and to everyone’s surprise, not the least her own, she brought it down. The Thuggee then ran away with Salmalin chasing after.

While we were waiting for Salmalin’s return, Mr Ramsey, Mrs Cuthbert and I cast an exorcism spell on the body of the owl. It did not go as planned. The owl turned into the bones of a man, fire flared up from the candles, and the bones vanished with howling laughter. I don’t think we have seen the last of that particular spirit.

Salmalin and the Thuggee ran through the carriage house where the Thuggee asked Edward if he was safe. Edward said yes and the man ran on, eventually escaping Salmalin. Salmalin said that the Thuggee said he was sent to protect someone. I asked if this had anything to do with Miss Chigwidgeon manifesting Kali on our recent voyage. Salmalin said no, the Thuggee said he was protecting Miss Wilhelmina.

With this revelation, I took Edward aside and told him that part of his secret must be revealed for the safety of the League. He said that he had been planning to tell Miss Sinclair next week but understood that something must be done tonight. We agreed that he would change and we would tell all present that Miss Whilhelmina had been hiding in the carriage house under Edward’s protection. We guessed that most of our companions would figure out what was really going on and this way we could include Mr MacGregor in the conversation. We went out to the carriage house with Graves for a bodyguard, since he was already privy to the secret. Edward changed into Miss Brody, but before we went in she insisted upon being introduced as Miss Moriarty. It was all very confusing, however, I agreed and we returned to the parlour and I presented her. Most folks did figure out what was really going on. I could see Mrs Cuthbert work it out once she came down from whatever plain she had been inhabiting. The spirits seem to distract her at the strangest times.

Miss Brody did not want to break cover for an extended period of time, so Miss Sinclair and Salmalin returned to the carriage house. Miss Sinclair had a talk with Miss Brody as the rest of us again prepared to go out and search for Sentenza.

We are now preparing to set forth. While I was waiting I drafted a proposal to improve our response should we be attacked in our own house again. I will show it to the others at an appropriate time. I am also concerned that the following people may need to be protected from Sentenza: One eyed Billy, The knife thrower, the sexton of St Eglantine, the vicar of St Eglantine.

I do wish things weren’t happening quite so fast. However if we do not act now, another woman may fall victim to the Ghost of the Sword.

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