January 30. 1860. Monday

The blacksmith seems to me a bit tence. We ate and had talked about where we came from and the more we talked, the more tence he turned. He didn’t want to talk mutch about William, unfortunately. When I asked him if he had been to the castle before, he just shook his head, like I was going to hurt him and kept repeating “no,no, not at all!” his tone got different when I asked him about what he could do with the damages to some of the castles more decorative sides. There is still a few swords on some of the walls and shealds with mias family crest on it that will need care. Also some more practical and less flashy assighnments, but to this, he replied “sorry, you will have to talk to someone else for that, sir.”
We parted, a little less tence than when we first met. He got with him a bag full of swords from the different rooms we had allreddy been to (I am shure we will see more of them.) and lent him a carrage to bring the different shealds with him as well. As soon as he left, mia commented that he had been stairing at something on the fireplace the whole time we had been inside the main livingroom. When I went to see if everything was as it should, I noticed a bust of William that was put on the shelf had been turned to face inwords not outwards. I do not know the reasom why  this man would do sutch a bizar thing, for seemingly  no reason at all. I will ask him when he comes back with the swords and shealds.

January 29. 1860. Sunday

Finaly, a day off from all the stress. We decided to sleap in today due to all the activities lately, so I slept all until midday today. I can not remember the last time I was this rested. I am planning on checking the armory today to see what we can do about Miriam and the things written in Williams letter. 
This is what it says: Miriam must be placed in the center of the room on the stand aiming at the entrance. The trigger must be placed on the mechanism closest to the center for right effect. The stand and its mechanisms will need constant care. See to it that no parts are allowed to rust and keep the other guns on a minimum distance of 2,3 meters. The placing of these guns are irrelevant. Make shure to always keep Miriam loaded and, if she is ever fired, make shure to check every mechanism and detale on her thurrowly.
There is also a scribble on the bottom of the page: if Miriam is not in your ownership any longer, destroy every single peace of the stand in the middle of the armory. Use the room as you see fit.
I will wright later today when this is all done. Strange, really, that William would wright sutch strange things about something so little. Of course, it was his favorite, but this looks more like an unhealthy obsession rather than a caring owner.

Miriam is now in place. It is now evening. Mia wanted to go to the tavern in town to see if she can get to know some of the locals, but for now she has not returned home. Miriam was surprisingly hard to place. The stand needed a lot of care before I could set it where it needed to be and all the different components used to strap Miriam to the stand made it look, not like a regular gun, but rather like some sort of steam powered monstrosity with beautiful carvings and a long cylinder at the end. I cannot help but wonder why William would do this to his favorite firearm. 
Mia just came home. She has arranged a meeting with the town blacksmith tomorrow afternoon at the tavern. As I understand, he knew William.

January 26. 1860. Thursday

Boring day. We took four turns today. I think we only have one more to go. With that I will bring all the things we did not need immediately. Miriam for eksample. I have not even been able to look thru the castle yet. The next days, me and Mia will haveto look more thurrowly at everything. At least once everything is in place. It was quite foggy today.

January 25. 1860. Wednesday

Yesterday was productive. Today was a complete mess! We got one trip settled and went back to the mansion to get a second one when the rain trapped us there for the rest of the day. I just came back after taking the second trip but not without a hassle. First of all, the rain kept uss from bringing anything that could be damiaged in the rain. Second, even if there was no possible way of damaging it from the rain, it had to be coverd. And thirdly, one of the hourses pulling the carriages stepped into a mudhole and twisted one of its legs. So we were one hourse short for the way back.
When we finaly arrived, Mia came out with a big umbrella over her head. She was worried and disappointed that we had not been able to follow scedual and bring back more than we had that day. She should be happy it is not her that has to do it all.
Diner was very late that day. I was surprised to even make it in time, due to the long time it had taken uss to travel. It aksualy seems like the cheff had forgotten to make diner. This is almost impossible, since the man has a memory like a hauk and the punctuality of Dereks pocetwatch. For that to have happened he must have had a trumendes diversjon or interruption in his schedual.
Note to self: invest in more clocks around the kitchen area and the dining hall.

January 24. 1860. Tuesday

A day of moving more and more furniture, bags of clothing, nips, food, tools and staff. We got halfway done today, thow. I am very pleased by this fact, since the wether seemed to change as we started this morning from deep dark sky into shimmering sunlight. Veryone were tired in the end ofcourse, but there is, unfortunately a lot left.
One of the carriagedrivers, Nathan, a young man with brod shoulders and long hair, brought upp the subject of imploymant on the last trip back. The boy can’t be more than 18 and the way he brought it upp was simply so clumsy that I had to hire him. If nothing else, just to have him around. The boy was easy to like, witty and smart. Not to mention strong and persistant. Not once had he asked for a brake, during the whole day. I hope Mia aprooves.
Note to self: ask Francis if he would like a butler student.

January 23. 1860. Monday

Moving day went pretty mutch as expected, yet some things had to be changed. It turned out Mia had expected more to go in every turn, yet that was not the case. One of the men who was suppoed to help us had turned ill and that made us 2 cariages short. Yet, the only thing really annoying about this was that it would mean one more trip all in all. Mia had to leave some of the biggest furniture, in addition to her human sized mirror. I left behind a few trunks of clothing and my wrightingdesk.
At the moment, I am sitting in the new bedroom, wrighting this on the nightstand. Mia has gone to check upp on the staff and that everyone is getting settled properly. I told her it was no need, but stil, she went down to them. It has been a while now since she
Mia is back now. She just had to help the chef with organizing the kitchen, as she put it. It will propably take days until it is finished, but it will do, for now. I am a bit confused about her behavior since getting here. One moment, I see her smiling like the sun and the next she seems deadly serious for some reason. She also seems nervous about something. I hope nothing is wrong. When I asked if there was anything in the matter or if there was something I could do, she bit me off, saying “it’s nothing. Now go to bed. I want you away early tomorrow to fetch more of our things.” This statement hurt me a little. Yet, I shal remain calm and do as she says. It is propably just the stress of moving.

January 21. 1860. Saturday

It has been three days traveling and paying people to aquire the gun collection, but the only thing we could get our hands on was Miriam. Let me retell what happened.
First off we traveled to Derek and Mia’s uncle, Gorman to ask him about the selling of the guns. As last time, he was not pleasant to be around and when he was at homeground, he was even worse. When we asked him about Miriam, the only thing he said was that he wouldnt keep that gun at any price. I quote: “That gun is better off abrod. Don’t think of it any longer.”
Ofcourse, we did not listen and went straight after the buyer. It was mearly a traveling merchant, propably not capable of paying mutch for it. I find this strange, as it seems like Gorman would want to make a profit on the collection. With this it just seemed like he was tossing it away for nothing. The man told us that he would not sell it before he had reatched another continent. Never sell something left by one man somewhere near that man, I think he said. In any case, he needed some convincing. We tried to bribe him by offering significant amounts of money, but that did not hold upp. The first day, we went to the inn emptyhanded.
The second day was a foggy, rainy and cold day. The ship was supposed to leave later in the evening. Somehow, I had lost all hope about aquiering the firearm, but when the time came for the ship to depart, the merchant came to uss to strike a bargain about the firearms. This was highly peculiar. He told us that the ship had gotten some sort of leakage and could not set sail until the day after, but he could not afford the repairs at his current state. He kept on jabbing about how this went against his policy about not selling to people near the original owner, but at last we decided that only buying Miriam would be just enough to cover the damage and still keep the merchants pride intact. We received a wooden crate with Miranda in it and the additional ammunition that had been with just that firearm. The crate was tightly locked and would need to be opened when we returned home. I will do this at a later time. It is now sitting in the entrance hall of the mansion, waiting to be brought back to castle Crowley. Hard work, but at least, now, Williams wishes have been met.
As I got home this afternoon, Mia immediately asked about the gun. She was thrilled about the retrieval of it. I really start to find this strange. All this fuss just for a firearm, previously belonging to a man that apparently never used it. I am really eager to know this and hear Derek eksplain it to me. I am aksualy getting rather nervous about it. This was no ordinary airloom. Why would William have tried to give it away to a man that might sell it away for nothing without a thought? Most peculiar.

January 18. 1860. Wednesday

As ekspected, Derek has just sold the collection of guns to a buyer in Morgan. If the collection ever gets there, we will never see it again, so me and Derek are leaving shortly y to buy it back from the original buyer. Derek is really frustrated by  all of this, of course, but he does not really want the guns. So I will be the new buyer. Its 12.45 mid day now and we will be leaving in a few minutes. I have Derek’s  approval not to write during this trip.
Unknown returndate.

January 17. 1860. Tuesday

Derek came over again today. He is trying his best, getting uss people to help uss move, in adition to what we have ourselves. It really is quite a lot and a lot of organizing is neaded. Mia have disappeared for large periods of the day, but im shure it was just to pack and choose when to bring what. We just herd from Winifred and Alfred that they just sold all the hourses, left by William. Luckily, the man they sold them to is a good friend of mine, sir Ferdinan Young. An exelent choice, to be perfectly honest. We invited them for diner at the castle, sometime in early February. I really want to get to know those to better.
It is late, in fact its past 2 in the morning, yet I feel this needs to be written down so that I do not forget it. Both Derek and I have been worried for Miranda, Williams old rifle. Gorman would propably not care about it as mutch as William might have wanted. We have considerd buyng it from him befor he maniaged to sell it on. When I asked Derek about why his father might have wanted it safe in the family, the only awnser I got was that he would tell me sometime later when we had allreddy moved. It would inhance the effect, he said.
Note to self: remind Derek of this at any opertunity. It seems it could be an interesting story to hear.

January 16. 1860. Monday

It is now settled. We are moving in a weeks time. The last few days I have been packing and sorting my most cherished belongings for the first trip there. I suspect we are to empty the whole mansion on our way and for that we will need a few trips. The next week will be troublesome and the weeks after that will propably go on to paying the movers and getting to know the locals. I think the tavern would be a good place to do this. I will need to form some sort of network of locals to help uss get settled. Also, I want to seek out new friends. The best way of starting out at a new place is with new friends. Mia is overexited about the fact that we are leaving for castle Crowley. She have allreddy finished all her preparations. I think she have had it ready for quite some time, ll since she herd the last will. I am not to fond of the thought that she thinks she can do whatever she wants and that I shall follow closely after. I will never discuss this with her, in any case, thow. I wish no more quarrel and broken feelings at a time, allreddy so broken. Good night, dear diary.

Note to self: this book is not a person Jarrod. You don’t need to say good night to it. Now, off to bed!

January 13. 1860. Friday

It has just come to my attention that this year will be a special year when it comes to Fridays. This year it is a leapyear, starting on a Sunday, witch means that there will be a total number of 3 Friday the thirteens this year. The reason I know this is that Williams lawyer came today to deliver a letter to Mia. He told us that he would come every Friday the thirteenth this year to deliver the rests of Williams Will. This was highly confusing so I asked about the Fridays to the lawyer. So now we know just as mutch, dear diary. Williams letter to Mia was not spesificaly written TO Mia. It was very formal and just told about some aspect of the armory that needed some sort of care. I will wright more when I can see it for myself in the armory, itself. Confusing day, all in all.

January 12. 1860. Thursday

Today and yesterday, we have tossed around the idea that we could use the castle as a summerhouse. I faver this idea most of all, but Mia won’t hear of it. I think Derek agrees with me, but the castle does not really belong to ither of us. Mia is the one who was willed the castle and I do not think she intends to give it up.  I have been bissy doing the financhial calculations for everything yesterday and today. I am starting to really feel the headache getting to me.

January 10. 1860. Tuesday

It has been a few days since my last entry. I feel like these few days have drained me of the rest of my powers. We saw thru the castle on Monday, since the trip there took longer than expected. I feel I need to eksplain this.

We traveled on Sunday and went thru the town to get to the main road. On the way passed the inn, a drunken man suddenly came into the road in front of our wagon. This startled the hourses and made them direct the wagon into a barrel near to a wall. Luckily, it was empty, so the ekspence only reatched as far as the barrel itself when it came to other peoples property. The drunken man had gotten away and left us with a broken weel.

We didn’t get anywhere until it had gone 3 hours. We arrived the castle at nighttime and we had to wait until morning before we could look thru it. We went down to a local in and rented a bed for the night. When we stated our names for the innkeeper, he looked upp at uss with a strange look in his eyes. I cought myself thinking: I hope this village is not hostile toward strangers. When we finaly got to the castle, in daylight, we started scouring the most important rooms. If we ware to look thru all the rooms, we could have just as well stayed a hole week. We saw thru the kitchen, the bedrooms, the livingroom, study, grandhall, dininghall, whinecellar, bathrooms, foodstorrages, commonroom, smokingrooms and guestrooms. So far, it all looked well, yet when we went outside to the courtyard, smithy, garden, labyrinth and greenhouse, we saw that it would need extended yardwork. It seems like it has not been taken care of for years.

Ofcourse, this is not really a huge concern, but still, I do not feel like staying at a place like this. A mansion is big enof. We are not even shure about everything in that house. What should we do, if we had a hole castle to care for? I am concerned. Yet, Mia is convinced that we can make it. We will have to see. If we are to move, we will have to both move ourselves and all the members of the household, like the gardener, all the maids, Francis and the kitchenstaff. It would be most difficult.

Yesterday, Monday, I had gone to to the bank to check upp the possible overekspence of doing this. I found out that if all goes well on the stockmarket for a hole month, I might just be able to live thru it without paying any ekstra expence, other than the travel itself and the ekstra payment of getting more people to join the household. I suppose I can bare with it, but I have not yet decided. Derek said he would help me a little if I really needed it. After all, he was the one that inherited the money from William, and to my knowlege, it was an insane amount of money.

I noticed that the wrightingdesk in the study at the castle was not in perfect shape. The drawers were all shut tight and locked so they were impossible to open without the proper tools. I would haveto go thru all the furniture and replace ocational broken objects.

It rained on the way home and at the mansion. Not a pleasant day, Tuesday. If we are to move, we will do so sometime in a couple of weeks. Derek came over to stay the night and have a few drinks with us tonight. As I wright this, it is 3 in the morning. I can not belive I am doing this. Good night, dear diary.

January 7. 1860. Saturday

Today, Mia and I decided to go to the castle. It will not happen until tomorrow but I think it will be necessary to visit it and see how the state of it all is. Mia has calmed down a little now. It seems to me that she have faced the facts in a way that few in her position could be able to. She has allredy started wrigting parts of the burial speatch and prepare the bisnis with the roses for Williams grave. Mia did not go to the kitchen to mutch today. It seemed like she finaly saw that he does not really need help. When I insisted on her coming to bed, she immediately agreed. I think she understood that rest is needed during times like this. It rained today.

January 6. 1860. Friday

The will has now been red and all the guests have ither gone home or to their rooms for the night. I am still trying to comprehend all that has happened today. All the relatives of Mia and Derek came to hear the will. Not very many is left now, since they are the to youngest in the family. Only Winifred, Angus, Gorman and Lucy are left. I have had little to do with them on previous ocations so today was a real eyeopener for me. Angus and Winifred, I liked. They seem like a respectable cupple, yet they were a bit short on money, not to long ago. Gorman and lucy, on the other hand, seems to me like the sort of people you wouldnt even invite for tea, if it depended on your life. Greedy fools, both of them. They were only there for what they might have gained from it all. Winifred and Gorman were Williams siblings, yet their reaction to the whole thing was very different. Winifred was devastated and in shock, while Gorman was serious and… well, just uncomfortable to be around. It always seemed like he felt bored, somehow. That he would rather be somewhere else. If you read this, Mia, I hope you support me in the notion, never to invite them over unless it can not be avoided.

The process of the will was quite simple. The lawyer sat on the farside of the long table and red the will to uss all. It seemed like William had written it quite reacently. In the beginning, there was a speatch that he had written down for our comfort, I suppose, and then we came to the part where his belongings was split. He had written this:

To my dear brother, Gorman, I leave my guncolection and all my stuffed animals. I hope you find this profitable, since I have no delusion that you are going to keep it. The only thing I want you to keep is my favorit rifle, Miriam. If you feel the need to sell it, please sell it to another familymember.

To my sister Winifred, I leave my summer house in Galburrough and all my horses. As you know, I took grate pride in them and hope they will be well with you. If he burden is to mutch, I trust you have the mind to sell them to a kind, yet well trained horse breeder.

To my dear son, Derek, I leave all my lifesavings. I hope this can help you on your way to the elite of society. But remember, money is not trust. Do not forget the wonderfull man you are. Make me proud, son.

Lastly, I give my daughter, Mia, my castle in Hobsford for her and her husband to live in. this is my last wish, that you and your husband move into this castle, witch is our familys oldest airloom. I hope Castle Crowley will be even more pleasant for you than it has been for me. All the furniture and the rest of my belongings, including my extensive library is all yours, yet you may sell whatever you feel the need to get rid off.

I hope this will benefit you all to some extent. I have one last request for you, before God takes me away. I want you to leave a rose on my grave every second Friday for a whole year, starting to weeks after my death. I will see you again when it is your turn to walk thru the valley of death. Good bye and God speed.

This puts me and Mia in a tricky situation. Are we to move or not? We will haveto discuss this in the morning. She has gone back to the kitchen again, to help again. I still let her, but eventually, she will need a good night sleap. I shall insist on it tomorrow night.

January 5. 1860. Thursday

I feel a bit worried, to be honest over my wifes reaction to it all. Whenever she is sad, she usually start finding things to ocupie her time to not think of all the hardship. It seems, she has taken a liking to cooking today, continued from yesterday, constantly being in the kitchen helping the cheff. For her sake, I hope it wont continue for to long. She realy hates cooking. Derek  stayed the night in the guestrooms upstairs. We took a long walk earlier and talked about it all. Poor William. And poor Mia and Derek. Loosing their father so shortly after loosing their mother only 6 months ago. Horrid.

Tomorrow is the day to read his last will. I cant say I am looking forward to it. Francis, my butler, has been an enormous help, preparing I all. I will show him my gratitude when this is all over. I honestly do not know what I would do without him.

Personal note: I do not think Mia’s help in the kitchen is to any significant help. Todays supper was both late and the potatoes ware not cooked properly. I do hope tomorrow will be different. We are having a few guests, after all.

January 4. 1860. Wednesday

What a long day it has been. When I woke this morning, I noticed that Mia had not come to bed. I thought this odd and went to look for her. I found her in the kitchen, making breakfast with the cheff. This, to me was most peculiar, since she has never been interested in cooking a day of her life, as I have known her. She told me to go out into the livingroom and fetch the letter from yesterday. After reading thru, I took her to our room and gave her a glass of gin. An hour later, she had fallen asleap and I had called for Derek. The nature of the letter was simple, yet unpleasant. It would seem that Mia’s father has passed away. She had not been able to sleap all night and when she awoke again, Derek had finaly come. I left them in privacy for an hour in my office while I had myself a glass of wisky from my personal cabinet. I feel I am going to miss the man. He was truly a grate man, always seeing the best in people, always kind and caring. I must prepare a burial speatch now. This is not exactly the new year I had planed. When Mia saw mw going to my desk just a moment ago to wright just this, she pointed out that I should wright more every day. Aperantly she wants to keep track of both the fact that I am wrighting and what I am wrighting. Read as mutch as you want, my love. You know that I do not have any secrets to share to anyone else than you. I am sorry, dear diary, but you will have to prove yourself as a trusty companion before I start telling you my secrets.

The will after William will be read this Friday. I will try to arrange it so that we can have it here, at the mantion.