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This inch-thick leather-bound diary is a very typical specimen, with a brass lock and key that fastens across the outer edge. It opens readily and smells of dry old paper; little damage has occurred to this item over the decades. Reading the diary requires an English roll and about six hours, but it can be skimmed and relevant sections read with sufficient comprehension in three. The results are the same either way. From this book, the reader draws a very unpleasant picture not only of volatile Thomas Pellgraine but initially of Andrea herself. Neither seemed to care very much for the other, and the marriage seems to have occurred due to Andrea's cynical opportunism (Thomas was wealthy and Andrea's family had some substantial debts) and Thomas' desire to own whatever he wished (in this case, Andrea). Together, it was a match made in hell. The two had affairs during their honeymoon and beyond, each cultivating a stable of servants (male for Andrea, female for Thomas) to meet not only the needs of the estate but their sexual needs as well. Naturally, these servants were soon divided into separate camps depending on which spouse they serviced, and the result was a thoroughly unpleasant household-not to mention a shocking portrait of nobility in Britain. The color of the diary changes dramatically upon the hiring of Robert, a valet. For whatever reason, Andrea Pellgraine found herself truly in love. The entries that follow his joining the estate and entering Andrea's bed are of a markedly different character than those previous; it seems that for once in her life she had found someone worth loving. Andrea notes Thomas' interest in the occult only passingly, since she considers it beneath her notice and just another of Thomas' inane hobbies. This changes drastically when Thomas appears out of thin air in the locked room in which Andrea and Robert are having a liaison, and makes Robert disappear. The incident and Thomas' subsequent gloating over it clearly unhinges Andrea. She records her nervousness that he now watches her every move invisibly. The diary jumps from anti-Thomas diatribes to calm and loving memories of their engagement--which she writes, she eventually relates, whenever she isn't positive that Thomas is otherwise engaged and cannot be spying on her from the aether as she writes. Andrea goes on to relate how, whenever Thomas gets drunk and passes out, she slips into his study and reads through his notes. Her goal, it seems, was to bring Robert back from the aether. The diary chronicles her growing comprehension of her husband's magickal researches and her eventual attempt to bring Robert back to our reality using the first half of a spell titled "The Taking and the Keeping." This attempt was a horrific failure. A creature materialized that bore a superficial resemblance to Robert, but was clearly only a shade of him at best. This creature tore through the house to where Thomas lay, intoxicated, and dragged him kicking and screaming back to the study (killing three servants along the way). There it did unspeakable things to him and (before long) his corpse, while Andrea collapsed weeping in a corner. Her record of the event is very brief and disjointed, reflecting her damaged mental state. Apparently she did have enough presence of mind to utter the second half of 'The Taking and the Keeping," which were needed to send the thing back to the aether. However, she also says she does not believe that she did it quite right and that she hopes the thing never returns. The last entry in the diary relates how she has ordered a servant to seal up the room for good. This entry is written, she explains, while she waits for the carriage to take her to "a better and happier place than this, a stronger and more loving world than that which I have known." This, of course, is the asylum where she would spend the last few months of her life in horrible conditions and a deteriorating mental state. |