27 March 1871, Monday

Today I managed to put my foot in it with Mrs Sharps.

Among the mail that Lady Cowperthwaite has received were letters of introduction from several tradesmen. Some were obviously snake oil salesmen, and as such, were easily dealt with. Others, however, were local area or from only as far away as Manchester. Since neither Lady Cowperthwaite nor I are native to the area, I was dispatched to speak with Mrs Sharps and ask her advice as to which tradesmen we already use and if any of the offers made were worth further investigation.

I went down to Mrs Sharps’ office. She was busy with her accounts. I must not have explained myself or my mission very well as I could tell that she was cross with me.

I finally ascertained that she thought that I was coming to tell her which tradesmen the New Lady Cowperthwaite wished to engage when in reality I had been sent to ask her advice on the matter.

Once the misunderstanding was corrected, and her advice solicited, she seemed mollified and was willing to give me a list of the people she regularly buys from as well as a running commentary on the other requests for Lady Cowperthwaite’s custom. I took careful notes and returned upstairs to write notes to the tradesmen based on the information provided. Thankfully these notes do not need to be signed by Lady Cowperthwaite herself.

We have paid several visits to Miss Helen Shorrock and her maiden aunts over the past two weeks. Apparently Miss Shorrock and Lady Cowperthwaite have much in common. Tomorrow Lady Cowperthwaite has an appointment to call on Mrs Beeswax at Ramson Cottage.

I have passed the time during the calls very productively. Mr Graves found me a very clever little lap desk I can carry with me so I can work on the correspondence in the carriage while Lady Cowperthwaite pays her respects. I do have to ensure that my ink bottle is firmly corked but other wise the desk works splendidly

I have not heard anything further from James or John regarding Emily. Betty claims Emily was in bed six weeks when news of my divorce came to the House. I was in India at the time and had no word of it. Now with my remarriage to Ravvi she is prostrate yet again. I don’t know if it will be appreciated or will send her into further hysterics but I should write to her and express my concern for her health.

What I really want to do is give her a good shake. It is bad enough that John has to deal with my actions and how they might reflect on the Family but Emily’s overly dramatic reaction just draws more attention to the family problems. I suspect it is the only way she can register her displeasure given that the rest of the family seems to have accepted my choice. I do hope she is not really ill. I am certain John would let me know if she was truly sick.

28 March 1871, Tuesday

After our usual round of exercises with Mr Salmalin, Lady Cowperthwaite and I took the rest of the day to pay calls. It was raining enough that we could not take the landau but not so hard that we would be forced to abandon our plans. Lady Cowperthwaite really needed to finish her calls before visiting Helen Shorrock again. Fortunately, Sir Cosmo and Lady Cowperthwaite had called on Mr Balderstoke’s relations upon our return from Scotland, so that narrowed the list considerably.

We went into the village and stopped by the Woolwich household. Both the Reverend and his wife were out so Lady Cowperthwaite left her card. I am not certain what we are to do about the problem of church. Lady Cowperthwaite is disinclined to attend and given her rather direct connection with her own goddess it is difficult to see what end, other than the purely social, would be served by encouraging her attendance. Of course the purely social aspects church should not be discounted... Perhaps Sir Cosmo can be of some help in this matter. He should know best what Lady Cowperthwaite can do to set residents at ease.

Our second stop was Oakgrove Hall. Lady Nitterdale was at home and received Lady Cowperthwaite. I waited in the carriage. The damp air made it difficult to write cleanly. I ruined two pages before giving up on that project. I spent some time in meditation while waiting. The air smelled wonderful– full of new growth and woodsmoke and the clear scent of the rain itself. It was a little cool. Regardless of the fact that we are well into March, the days are not always warm and rainy days are even more like to be chill.

29 March 1871, Wednesday

I received a letter from Mother today. Apparently Lady Cowperthwaite invited her to spend Easter at Edenfield Court. She has declined the invitation in favour of going home and Sorting Out Emily. She mentioned that an invitation has also been extended to James. I hope he will come–I see so little of him as it is.

Thomas has the Downstairs in a fever of preparations. He and Mrs Robb nearly got into it when he tried to make off with a few of her staff to help with his preparations. Mrs Sharps sorted them out before Mr Graves could be called in. Thomas seems competent, but this is his first big event at Edenfield so I suspect he is over-doing things a bit. We’ll see how he holds up when the bulk of the League arrives on Friday.

Ravvi and I continue to have a little time together in the afternoon while the staff are at their tea. Mrs Sharps has tea with her husband at that time as well. Ravvi will, as often as not, have a cup of hot water to drink rather than tea itself.

It is strange to be learning so much about him after I have married him. With Captain Forrester I knew a great deal about his preferences before we were married. We had been in each other’s company enough to learn some of the other’s little likes and dislikes. With Ravvi I know a great deal about his character, how he reacts under pressure and his capacity for self-sacrifice, however I keep tripping over little things.

I asked him when his birthday was only to find that all he knows is that he was born sometime between 1843 and 1846. His mother died when he was still a child. Even before that, he had been chosen for training that took him from her. What a high price to pay for the skills he possesses. It is difficult to imagine such a life. If, by some grace we are granted children, I would not choose such a path for them.

I do understand a bit more clearly now, what Ravvi meant when he said that he had never thought of himself as ever having children. His training seems to have left him focussed on service to others. Going by his experience, men in the Hand of Kali were not encouraged to know their sons. There were no fathers– only mentors or trainers. It is a hard thing to come to grips with because it means that by choosing to protect Miss Chigwidgeon and Sir Cosmo from the Young Cobb’s treachery, Ravvi turned away from, not just an employer, but his entire family.

30 March 1871, Thursday

~Evening~

Everything at Edenfield is polished, buffed, folded, pressed and shined within an inch of its life. Lady Cowperthwaite and I took refuge at the cottage for most of the afternoon. The rain was pouring down but it was not a good day to be indoors at Edenfield. I did mention to Mrs Sharps that I was willing to be pressed into service, but she pointed out that someone needed to keep an eye on the Mistress. I also suspect that I would be more hinderance than help at the moment.

I tried to teach Lady Cowperthwaite the basics of bridge and whist but not being a very regular player myself made it difficult to be a good instructor. I am not very fond of card games but they are a way to pass the time when one has been invited to stay at a country house and it is expected that one know the rudiments of the game. Lady Cowperthwaite was very quick to pick up the little I could teach her. I warned her about the aggressive betting that some people indulge in during the games. She doesn’t seem the type to be lured into gambling but I have seen other ladies go a step too far with their income at the bridge table and come to regret it.

Mr Salmalin was able to slip away for tea. Mrs Sharps had declared herself satisfied with the progress thus far and had allotted an extra half hour for tea for the entire staff. Ravvi, umbrella in hand, walked her to her cottage (which is a bit closer to the main gate than our cottage) and planned to return for her unless the rain let up.

Lady Cowperthwaite took the opportunity to return to the house and see how Sir Cosmo’s afternoon was progressing. Ravvi escorted her back to the house. I suspect him of practising his umbrella technique against tomorrow’s mass arrivals. There is quite a trick to holding the umbrella so that the person one is escorting remains dry. Lady Cowperthwaite tried to dissuade him but failed. He returned very quickly–it is not far to the house from here and he can move very quickly when the mood takes him.
We had a very pleasant tea and I shared his umbrella on the return to the house as Mrs Sharps stopped by to say that her own husband had insisted on walking her back to the house. It was certainly nice to have the excuse of the umbrella to walk close to Ravvi.

31 March 1871, Friday

It was much more awkward than I thought, being around my friends again now that I am married to Ravvi. Most of our friends arrived by late afternoon. Lady Cowperthwaite and I alternated with Sir Cosmo in retrieving them from the station.

Mrs Cuthbert brought the news that Inspector MacGreggor and the Frazers had stopped in Manchester on Official Business and would be delayed.

Edward and George arrived midafternoon with a prodigious amount of luggage. The Frazer’s luggage had come on ahead and we took it back to the house with us, leaving Edward to argue with the porters over the order his equipment should be loaded on to the wagons.

Lady Cowperthwaite decided to ask Mrs Robb to wait dinner as the Frazers and Inspector MacGreggor were not expected to be more than a few hours delayed. That raised the topic of dinner and where I should eat. It has been no problem in the reduced household, taking meals with the Cowperthwaites on those days when we were all home together. However, with our expanded company it seemed to me that it might be better if I dined early with the rest of the Staff. Lady Cowperthwaite would not hear of it, however, and despite my protestations ordered me to dine with the guests.

That simplified things for me. It is one thing to be told by the Mistress of the House what one should do and entirely another to presume that the privileges of my former station still apply to me. Mrs Cuthbert asked if Mr Salmalin would be dining with us. Lady Cowperthwaite asked him but he indicated a preference for helping Mr Graves with the service. It is odd. It never bothered me, before we were married, to have him wait on me when I was at table. Now I am keenly aware of where he is in the room and I feel that I should be helping him.

Graves received a telegram from Mrs Frazer and realized that between the time it took for the telegram to get here and the short distance between Manchester and Edenfield meant that our late arrivals would shortly be at the train station. Edward was dispatched with a carriage and we heard the racket of Henri’s steam-gig as it rattled down the road a few minutes later.

The steam-gig returned a short while later. Its arrival was heralded by a loud crash as of someone landing in the shrubbery. It transpired that Henri had bet Edward that the steam-gig could get to the station and back more quickly than the carriage. It was indeed very quick–if not very accurate.

I don’t know how Henri managed to talk Inspector MacGreggor and his new-healed jaw into riding with him. But when we went outside to see what all the noise was about we saw the Inspector trying to extricate himself from a lilac bush and Henri hanging down from the harness in the gig– his face just inches from the ground. Of course, as he later pointed out, the brakes did work as he did not slam into the stone wall of the house. I thought it very sensible of the Inspector to jump when he did–even if both Inspector MacGreggor’s tailor and Sir Cosmo’s gardener will not be very happy with the results.

I overheard Henri offering to take MacGreggor’s measurements for a new suit as we all went back inside to line up for dinner.

Even though I was uncomfortable, it was good to hear in more detail, what my friends had been up to since Sir Cosmo and Lady Cowperthwaite’s wedding. Sir Spencer and Mrs Cuthbert are nicely settled in at No 12 and have absorbed the Frazers into their household without difficulty. Mrs Cuthbert and I had a private word about Mrs Frazer before the latter arrived. Her Condition is progressing normally and Mrs Cuthbert is quite excited by the prospect of a little one in the house again.

Inspector MacGreggor and Mr Frazer have been assigned to a case which seems to point to Edenfield or one of the nearby towns. Inspector MacGreggor has asked Mrs Frazer to call on the Shorrocks as soon as possible. Apparently they used to own a massive diamond– it was stolen nearly 27 years ago– and something in the current case points to what is called the ‘hairy’ diamond. I am not sure of all the connections. Much of the case had been talked out between the Frazers and the Inspector before they arrived this evening, so I only picked up bits and pieces of the information as they conversed.

Lady Cowperthwaite laid plans with Mrs Frazer to visit the Shorrocks and prepare them for the Inspector’s visit.

After dinner we adjourned to see Henri’s ‘Magic Lantern’ show. He has taken many, many pictures over the past several months and seemed intent on showing them all to us. All was going quite well until Wilhelmina made a shadow rabbit on the sheet Henri was using to show the picturers and Wooster went into a rabbit-induced panic. He was nearly recovered when Henri started to tease him about undead demon rabbits. I went to get Caine and he eased Wooster out of the room. The rest of us retired to the music room to hear Wilhelmina play her flute– a new accomplishment. After her short concert we gathered round the harpsichord and sang a few songs. It was a very enjoyable way to spend the evening. As the party broke up I went in search of a lantern. The days are getting longer but it was quite dark by the time I was ready to make my way down the path to my own bed.

1 April 1871, Saturday

In spite of our late night, we were up early. I went to breakfast with the Staff. I suspect the conversation is more lively when I am not there, however, some of the other staff have relaxed around me over the past few weeks, so it is not quite as uncomfortable as it was to begin with.

Tattvik has been very deft at helping me avoid some of the pitfalls while learning a new set of rules. My mother’s training has been more useful than I expected. For while the order of precedence is not the same between Upstairs and Downstairs, it exists, and so now it becomes a matter of memorizing a new list rather than learning new rules.

I present something a puzzle to the existing rules, for it is not usual for a lady’s private secretary to be married, and even more unusual for the secretary to be married to one of the under staff. Mr Graves and Mrs Sharps consulted and have ordained that I am be seated by my married rank rather than my employed rank, which puts me between the Upstairs Maid and the most senior Housemaid. Since Mrs Sharps normally dines with her husband. That leaves Mr Graves and Mrs Robb to anchor the table. In the past weeks the women outnumbered the men– since Stuart, David, and George were all on detached duty with other parts of the household. Now that the complement of footmen is at full strength the table is a bit more balanced.

Becky was very pleased at the return of her older brothers. I did not hear much of what David and Stuart had to say to her but they seem a very affectionate family.

It is has been very interesting to watch the other staff interact with Tattvik. I had not realized before how much she had learned about navigating Downstairs in her time with me. I’m afraid I took her skills more for granted than I realized.

I am glad that very few of the staff had occasion to encounter the two of us before she was hired as Lady Cowperthwaite’s own Lady’s Maid. I am sure that our connexion is not a secret but there is a difference between knowing something has happened and seeing it oneself. I am also pleased that our easy companionship has not altogether disappeared with the changes in our station. She has not said what she thinks of my marriage and I will not press her on the subject. I am content that she is willing to take me under her wing.

After the staff breakfast we met the ladies for practise. It was very stimulating to be reunited with Mrs Frazer, Mrs Cuthbert, and Miss Bertilde again. They have been practising diligently, though I notice that Mrs Frazer has wisely stopped sparring and contents herself with stretching and shadow fighting. She is more clumsy than before due to her Condition but is working hard to compensate. As she said, if we come up against any evil-doers they will likely not hesitate to take advantage of any weakness, so it is best to keep in practise.

Seeing Lady Cowperthwaite, Mrs Cuthbert, Mrs Frazer and Miss Bertilde together reminded me of how formidable these women are. We have all come such a long way since our first meeting only a year ago. It was 4 April 1870 that Tattvik and I travelled to London to stay with Sir Cosmo for the first time. I met Miss Sinclair, now Mrs Frazer, on that day and Mr Salmalin only a day later, though under less auspicious circumstances.

Defence practise is one of the few places I do not feel like a fish out of water. Once we begin we are all focussed on the work before us and there is no time for anything but the next dodge or parry. Miss Bertilde thought to invite Tattvik to join our training. She has been practising with Lady Cowperthwaite and has done some prior work with Mr Salmalin. Her fencing skills have certainly not atrophied!

After practise we cleaned up and went into town for the final fitting of Miss Wilhelmina’s new Easter dress. She has not grown much in the three weeks since we saw her last so the measurements I gave the seamstress yielded very satisfactory results. The lavender dress has as many bows, ribbons and flounces as Lady Cowperthwaite and I could convince the seamstress to add.

Fortunately Lady Cowperthwaite is very persuasive and Miss Wilhelmina seemed satisfied with the results. After Miss Wilhelmina showed off her new dress, Lady Cowperthwaite nodded to the seamstress. New dresses were brought forth from the back room for Mrs Cuthbert, Mrs Frazer, Miss Bertilde and I.

While I was very pleased by the gift, I was momentarily annoyed at Lady Cowperthwaite for springing it on me. If I had known her plans I could have had a discreet word with the seamstress about Mrs Frazer’s measurements. As is was, someone else must have gotten to the seamstress. Mrs Frazer’s dress fit and did not need any embarrassing adjustments.

We returned home. Mr Salmalin and I took lunch with the staff while the others got ready for the afternoon’s outing. I assembled my writing case as several new letters had come in the post for Lady Cowperthwaite. Mr Graves found me while I was preparing to leave and gave me a letter from my brother James.

James left for the Normandy coast Thursday. By now he is probably already there. He departed just one day after the attempt on the life of the Emperor and Empress and I am worried for his safety. He says he was invited by a senior fellow at Oxford who has himself been invited to the Université de Caen to give a talk on this paper he wrote recently on Mendeléev's table. James called it a ‘golden opportunity’ in his letter.

I can only think of our own tour of Belgium, France, and Prussia last summer and the trouble that ensued. I hope he is keeping well and safe and remembers not to get eaten by vampires.

~Later~

I have a few moments before dinner to update this record. After lunch, Lady Cowperthwaite, Mrs Cuthbert, and Mrs Frazer called on the Shorrocks. I waited in the carriage and worked on the letters. They had a long visit and managed to secure permission for Inspector MacGreggor and Mr Frazer to call tomorrow afternoon.

Lady Cowperthwaite determined that the “Harry” diamond was actually the Hari (or Green) Diamond and the sisters said that it had a very pale green cast to it. There is a portrait of Miss Shorrock’s grandmother that features the stone. According to family legend it was brought back from Bengal by her Father’s Great-Uncle.

While I was waiting in the landau for the ladies to return an odd thing happened. A coach rattled by on the road. I could not see the coach, for Dearden House has a high hedge surrounding it. I could see the coachman because he stopped the coach just at a spot where a V in the hedge would allow someone sitting on a carriage to see into the Shorrock property. He was a middle-aged man who seemed neither true coachman nor local farmer.

The man seemed to start when I caught his eye. He called something about checking to see if the horse had lost a shoe and seemed to be talking to someone in the carriage. I could not tell if he actually had anyone with him. When I mentioned the incident to Mrs Frazer, she was willing to go and have a look at the place the coach stopped. She found nothing in particular but agreed that the coachman’s behaviour was odd. She also mentioned that Miss Shorrock’s Aunts had mentioned that Mr Frederick Shorrock was in town, and staying at Oakgrove Cottage. They have asked him to wait until Mr Nathan Shorrock returns from Africa before calling on them due to some bad blood over the loss of the Hari Diamond.

Once home, I checked with Mr Salmalin. He has heard that Mr Frederick Shorrock has been seen lurking about Dearden House but is unsure if the staff or residents of the house have realized it. Perhaps it is time Lady Cowperthwaite called on her new neighbour and learned more of his character.

Mrs Cuthbert and I determined that we had enough time before dinner for a seance. Henri tried to set up his infernal photography equipment but we dissuaded him. The last thing we need is his flash powder going off as Mrs Cuthbert is trying to concentrate. He said he would wait in the hall and be ready to take a picture if anything went wrong. How helpful!

Mr O’Flaherty sat in on the seance with us. It took several tries, but eventually Mrs Cuthbert was able to make contact with Mr Horace Shorrock (brother of Nathan, father of Frederick). He asked how his son was doing and then asked us to warn Frederick to beware of the ‘Shark’. He was not able to be more specific about the ‘Shark’ other than to say that it could take many forms and acted for evil.

He said he died of an illness not long after his wife, Mary. They were in Australia, where he had moved after the unpleasantness with the Hari Diamond. He said everything went wrong for him after he decided he wanted the diamond. He claimed the diamond must be cursed. He had no personal knowledge of how his Great-Uncle acquired the diamond but, when asked about the character of said Great-Uncle, noted that none of the veterans of the unit he served with in Bengal came to the funeral.

I wonder if any of them are still alive. It shouldn’t be too difficult to find out what unit he served with. Mr Horace seems to be in a dark and dismal place. Mrs Cuthbert and I said we would pray for him. I will add him to my ever-lengthening list.

Now I must finish dressing for dinner– at least the paths have dried from the recent rains and I can chance my lighter shoes.

~Very Late~

It is well past my usual bed time but we were unexpectedly out hunting ghosts after dinner.

It started some time after dinner, when Mr Graves asked me if I had seen Mr O’Flaherty about. I had not. I asked Mrs Cuthbert to scry for him in her glass. It looked to her like he was walking down a road with a bit of a limp. It was too dark to see where exactly but there aren’t that many roads around Edenfield Court. Mr and Mrs Frazer, Inspector MacGreggor and a few others went out with lanterns to find Mr O’Flaherty.

Also, by that time, we had learned from Inspector MacGreggor that his former suspect, Mr Timson, had told him of encountering the ghost of Sean ‘the Shark’ Malloy in mid-March. In addition two of the stable boys had seen ghosts several times on their walk home over the past two months. Lady Cowperthwaite, Mrs Cuthbert and I decided to go ghost hunting.

Not far down the road we ran into the gentlemen and Mrs Frazer talking to Mr O’Flaherty. It seemed that he had several ghostly encounters near the ice house belong to the Shorrocks. It also transpired that he had broken into said ice house thinking that some of the sounds he heard were those of someone in distress.

The Inspector and Mr Frazer wanted to inspect the damage to the ice house. The rest of us went along– Mrs Cuthbert keeping an eye out for spirits while I looked for any signs of magik.

The path to the ice house was rather circuitous because it ran though a bog. Mr O’Flaherty had nearly lost a boot to the bog earlier, so we were careful of our footing.

Soon things got very strange indeed. I could not see the bog or the path any more, I was surrounded by a lush tropical jungle, a river ran between us and where I thought the ice house must be (though there was now a small grass hut there), and all the sounds and scents were those of a foreign land. Henri, Sir Spencer and Mrs Cuthbert could still see the real path. Mrs Cuthbert wanted to continue on to the ice house. A rope was produced and we all took hold. Henri took the lead, Mrs Cuthbert was in the midst of us, and Sir Spencer brought up the rear. We all watched carefully as Henri picked his way across the bog to the ice house and followed his lead.

Mrs Cuthbert was certain we were caught in some strange dreaming. I tried chanting the Seed of Immensity as I walked hoping it would help me break though the dream and see our world again. I am not as skilled as Ravvi in such things. It had no discernable effect, except to make me feel better.

Once in the ice house it no longer appeared as a grass hut. We could see its interior normally. It was full of blocks of ice packed in straw. In the centre was a large tank full to the brim with damp moss.

Mrs Cuthbert asked to see the Dreamer. Suddenly the back wall of the ice house changed and became a classroom with a chalkboard and a man standing and writing “Introduction to Taxonomy” on the board. Mrs Cuthbert and Mrs Frazer recognized him as a younger version of Mr Shorrock.

He and his daughter are conducting a rather unorthodox experiment in the ice house. He is attempting to discover if a human can successfully mimic the hibernation (or rather estivation) pattern of an African Blue Carp. He has been in this strange suspended state since November and hopes to remain until May Day. Unfortunately, his dreams seem to be affecting the area around the ice house by causing people to fall into a strange waking dream when they pass by. The effect is more noticeable at night– or perhaps people are more susceptible in the dark with none of the daylight landmarks to anchor their thoughts.

Once we had finished our conversation I tried again to break free of the Dreaming. This time I succeeded. I do not know if it was because Mr Shorrock’s attention had wandered from us or if I had finally given enough attention to the mantra. We were all very cold by this point and took hold of the rope to return to the main road.

All of us were free of the dream by the time we reached the road and we could hear a carriage approaching. Ravvi, Sir Cosmo, and Edward were out looking for us. The carriage was too small for all and none of us, save Mr O’Flaherty were hurt. His limp was caused mostly by mud in his boot but we loaded him up in the carriage anyway. Lady Cowperthwaite, Mrs Cuthbert, and the Frazers took the other seats while Ravvi joined the rest of us for the walk home.

Mrs Robb was busy in the kitchen when we returned cold and in need of hot tea (and in some cases brandy or sherry) to warm us. Edward tried to offer to help her with frosting the cakes she was making. She chased both of us out saying that she could certainly manage both tea and her cakes.

Once we were all warmed up I saw my friends off to bed, put on my warm wrap and walked down the lane to our cottage.

Tomorrow we will have a lot of explaining to do.

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