Bainton Gray and the Mystery Of Barnaby Hall

 

 

Part One

Bainton Gray sighed. He leaned back against the tree trunk and closed his eyes. He wanted to lie there all day. But he got up and brushed himself down; after all, it was important that he looked smart and respectable. He adjusted his hat, picked up the hat boxes and made his way down the lane. Being a travelling milliner wasn’t his ideal job. But he couldn't be choosey. Having food, clothes and a place to sleep were the important things. There were others not so fortunate as himself, inmates in the workhouse for instance. He shuddered, thinking about the Union Workhouse. He'd heard horrific stories about it.

Bainton paused as he arrived at Barnaby Hall, a large foreboding manor house. As his eyes took in the elaborate Gothic-styled architecture, he couldn't help thinking that it was strangely quiet. He couldn't see anyone about, not even a gardener. He took out a letter from his pocket and read it again. The housekeeper there wanted to see his new hat fashions. The letter had instructed him to arrive at 2pm at the front door of the house. Bainton pondered this, as he knew tradesmen were usually expected at the back.

He pulled out his pocket watch and checked the time. It was ten to two, he was still too early. So he wandered around the gardens for a little while. The carefully tended rosebeds caught his eye, with their colourful petals swaying slightly in the gentle breeze. He paused briefly to smell them before checking his watch again.

It was time. Bainton walked towards the large dark wooden door.

He was just about to knock, when he heard a small tapping noise coming from above. Curious, he stepped back and looked upwards. He caught sight of a pale woman's face at the upper floor window. She seemed to be mouthing words, but he couldn’t hear. He focussed his gaze on the woman's face. He could see long dark hair flowing from beneath her flowered bonnet.

Intrigued, he knocked on the door. Whilst waiting for a response, he glanced up at the window on the second floor again. This time he noticed the partly obscured outline of a man, with his head hidden behind the curtain. Bainton stared harder. He could just make out the sleeves of a smart jacket.

 After about five minutes, the door was answered by a plump, middle aged woman. She looked at him expectantly.

"I'm Mr Gray, the milliner. I have an appointment with the housekeeper, Mrs. Merryfoot?"

"Yes, that’s me" she replied, slightly breathlessly, with a smile. Bainton looked surprised. He was used to doors being answered by butlers.

Mrs. Merryfoot noticed his surprise. "It's not usually my job to answer the door, you understand. But the butler has been given leave of absence due to his mother being taken ill. The master of the house, Lord Castledine, is out visiting relations."

As he was ushered into the house, Bainton felt quite relieved by the housekeeper's pleasant manner. He knew of other housekeepers who were quite formidable dragons!  Mrs. Merryfoot soon put him at ease and chatted away. Bainton did his best to make conversation with her. But when he enquired about the pale faced woman at the window, and whether she was the lady of the manor, Mrs. Merryfoot looked puzzled.

"It sounds like Lady Alethia Castledine, but my mistress is in the Great Hall at present. It couldn't have been her upstairs, I'd have seen her come down the main staircase..." She stopped mid-sentence, as something came to mind. Then she suddenly looked rather fearful.

"Lady Alethia had a twin sister, Clementia. But sadly she passed away 3 months ago". Mrs. Merryfoot hesitated before continuing: "Lady Clementia wasn't in good health. It was said that she took an overdose of laudanum, poor girl." Here, Mrs. Merryfoot's voice waivered. Bainton responded sympathetically by offering his condolences.

As she led Bainton down a dark oak panelled corridor, the housekeeper continued: "Such a tragedy. Since she died, they keep her room untouched.  All her clothes are still hanging in the wardrobe upstairs." She paused to open a door, then went on: "The parlourmaid's been telling people that Clementia’s ghost walks the first floor. But young Annie's such a silly girl". She sighed and shook her head disapprovingly.

Mrs. Merryfoot led him into a small study and closed the door. Bainton proceeded to show her his selection of bonnets. Delighted with the choice of hats, Mrs. Merryfoot eagerly chose one that Bainton secretly found particularly hideous. He held out a mirror as the housekeeper tried it on. She peered closely at her reflection. A pair of squinting eyes peered back at her from beneath an oversized feathered creation. Then a smile broke out across her rosy cheeks. Bainton tactfully hid his feelings towards the offending bonnet.

As the minutes passed by, rather tediously, Bainton's attention was distracted. He was sure he could hear someone scrubbing the floor outside in the passageway. The vigorous scrubbing noises got louder until they seemed to be right outside the door.

The housekeeper tried on another hat, still unable to make up her mind. The minutes ticked by as Bainton looked on.  A clock chimed in the corridor. Now he could hear the sound of footsteps coming down the main staircase.......

---

After about thirty minutes, Mrs. Merryfoot had made her choices and paid. Bainton picked up the remaining hat box and followed the housekeeper back down the dark corridor. As they passed the entrance to the Great Hall, Mrs Merryfoot stopped in her tracks. A clump of fresh mud outside the door had caught her eye. She turned to Bainton, with an exasperated look. 

"I told Annie to scrub these floors. I heard her scrubbing them. But there's mud on the clean floor!" She looked annoyed.  "It must be that new gardener," she muttered, under her breath. "He's been told about his muddy boots". She peered through the doorway, as she spotted more mud and began to follow the trail. 

Suddenly she cried out in alarm.  Inside the Great Hall, was a body. It was lying on the rug in front of the fire. Bainton dropped his hat box and rushed towards it. The housekeeper followed hesitantly behind. He stooped down over the body to examine it, but was quite taken aback when he saw the face. It looked like the pale faced woman he'd seen at the window. But not quite. This woman had the same long dark hair. Also the same hat, which was now covered in blood. But her face was rounder and plumper. It looked as if she'd been hit over the head; a poker lay on the floor beside her.

Bainton was very shaken. He looked up at the housekeeper to speak, but saw that she was fighting back tears. Mrs. Merryfoot leaned over him, covering her face with her hands. "It's Lady Alethia!" she cried, her voice trembling with despair.

Bainton knelt down and touched the hand of the corpse. He noted that the body was quite warm to the touch. There was no stiffness to the muscles. Fortunately, he did have a little knowledge about corpses. His uncle was an undertaker. He estimated that the woman had been dead for probably no more than 30 minutes. He looked at his watch. She must have been killed shortly before or after he'd arrived.

Mrs. Merryfoot was trying to look impassive, putting on a front like all good servants. Bainton realised that she'd had a nasty shock. Fearing that she might faint, he suggested that she should go and sit down in another room. He gently took hold of her arm and led her towards the doorway at the end of the Great Hall. He then accompanied the housekeeper as she made her way slowly down a corridor to the Kitchen.

Once there, Bainton pulled up a wooden chair and placed it by the fire. He beckoned the housekeeper towards it, whilst two male servants looked on. A shifty-looking man, seated at the table, nodded at Bainton. He had a ruddy complexion and was wearing mud-stained clothes and boots. As Bainton spoke with him, and explained the situation, he noted that the man was broad shouldered and muscular. He deduced that this man must work outside - probably a gardener. He glanced over at the other servant, a pale-faced young man standing by the window. A man of lean build, well-groomed and dressed neatly in a smart jacket. His dark hair was smoothed back. Obviously a valet, thought Bainton. The valet's dark eyes fixed inquisitively on Bainton.

At the sound of footsteps behind him, Bainton turned to see a young maid enter the kitchen. At the realisation that something was wrong, she went over to Mrs. Merryfoot, who was now seated beside the fire, staring at the flames.

"Could you get Mrs. Merryfoot a drink please?" asked Bainton. "I'm afraid she's had rather a shock. Lady Alethia has been found dead in the Great Hall".

A look of concern flitted across Annie's plain face. "Shall I go and fetch a cushion from the parlour?" she asked falteringly, looking around. The valet nodded. She started down the corridor. Bainton followed at her heels. "Where does your Cook keep the brandy?" enquired Bainton.

"It's kept under lock and key," replied Annie. She picked up a plump cushion. "Mrs. Marsh has gone over to the lodge to see the gamekeeper about the meat for tonight's dinner". She lingered near his side, studying his handsome features in close detail. Bainton felt uncomfortable. He was already engaged to a young lady, so he averted his eyes from her unwelcome attention.

"Cook won't be back for a while," remarked Annie. With that she gave him a simpering smile. Then she made her way towards the kitchen with the large cushion. Bainton followed, but felt relieved when she eventually left him to attend to Mrs. Merryfoot.

A restrained atmosphere hung over the kitchen. Seeing that the housekeeper was still finding it difficult to contain her composure, Bainton announced the manner of Lady Alethia Castledine's death to the other servants. He watched their reactions. But they all looked shocked by the fact that she had been murdered.

"Unfortunately Lord Castledine is out", began Bainton. "The Butler and Cook are also absent. Which means...", he paused, "none of us can leave the house. The murderer could be amongst us".  He looked at the others. There was an awkward silence.

"Mrs. Marsh will be back soon," ventured Annie.

"May be she could alert the police constable?" suggested Bainton.

"But what if the murderer isn't amongst us?" asked the gardener, in his deep gruff voice. "We don't even know if there's someone else hiding in the house."

All eyes were on Bainton. "Well, yes, that's possible," admitted Bainton. "I'm the only person here who doesn't have a connection to Lady Alethia. The only thing I can do is lock us all in until the police arrive". Having said that, Bainton marched purposefully over towards the kitchen door. He promptly turned the key before removing it, then proceeded to do the same with the door at the other side. He returned to the others holding the two keys.

So they all sat in the locked kitchen and waited for the cook to return.

---

Later in the afternoon,  when the cook returned, Bainton informed her of the circumstances. He asked her to send word to the local police.

After the police arrived they began questioning the household. As they tried to establish the servants' whereabouts, Bainton looked on with interest. He'd already been the first to be questioned.

The valet, Mr. Phoenix, said that he'd been upstairs, looking out of the second floor window. He described how he'd seen Bainton wandering around the garden. He went on to say that he'd seen him stop to smell the roses. Satisfied that Mr. Phoenix's story matched Bainton's account, the police said he was free to go. They went on to question the parlourmaid Annie, who replied that she'd been scrubbing floors. The police had already noted that Bainton had heard scrubbing. Annie was eliminated and allowed to return to her duties.

The gardener, Mr. Holt, said that he'd been in the garden all afternoon. Bainton glanced down and saw that the gardener's broad grass-stained hands bore traces of fresh dirt. But he recalled that he hadn't seen the gardener anywhere in the gardens.

Mrs. Merryfoot was the last to be questioned. Bainton knew that as he'd been in the same room with her since he'd arrived, it would have been hard for her to commit murder. Unless Lady Alethia had been killed before he'd arrived? Mrs. Merryfoot was asked what she was doing before 2pm. She looked shocked. At first she seemed vague about her whereabouts, but then claimed she'd been in the kitchen. She started to get tearful and looked away, staring at the fire, as if lost in thought.

Bainton let himself quietly out of the kitchen. He was free to go. But he didn't want to leave. He felt he had become part of the baffling events unfolding in the house. He couldn't bear the thought of a ruthless murderer going unpunished. Alas, the police weren't getting any further. There seemed to be only four people present in the house and all of them had given plausible answers.

Bainton decided to examine every room for clues. It wasn't easy because the police were still in the house. The Great Hall was out of bounds; a policeman was still in there carrying out a detailed search. So he waited his chance and slipped upstairs via the servants' staircase. He had to creep about without being seen.

Once on the landing, he was out of sight. The first room he entered must have been Lady Clementia’s boudoir. Bainton felt apprehensive as he entered, not wanting to disturb the room's contents, but needing to find answers. The curtains had been partially drawn, so that only a few rays of sunshine glinted through, casting eerie shadows across the dim shapes within. Bainton moved nearer to the window, and adjusted the curtains so that he could see. Nervously, not knowing what he would find, he slowly opened the doors to the closet. Could someone be hiding within?  But the only thing that greeted his eyes was a cascade of fine lace, ruffles and silk dresses. Lady Clementia's clothes were still there.

He cast his eye around the room, noting the contents of the ornate dressing table. Pretty trinkets, hair ornaments, Parisian perfume bottles. All lay undisturbed. An undressed mannequin stood in the shadows, as if guarding the contents of it's former owner's room. Moving nearer, Bainton's gaze fastened on a beautiful hat, with large silk flowers. "Such a fine creation", he mused. He couldn't help feeling sad to see it looking so forlorn on it's wooden stand, knowing that it would never to be worn again. His search completed, with still no clues, Bainton quietly closed the door.

Bainton entered Lady Alethia Castledine’s room next, which was almost identical. He continued to check all the upstairs rooms methodically.

Bainton checked the rooms downstairs.  He'd found no evidence of anyone else in the house, so he concluded that the murder could only have been carried out by one of the four servants. One of them was a killer, but which one?

He re-assessed the situation. Being sceptical of the supernatural, he didn’t believe in this ghost nonsense either. But how could he have seen a dead woman at the upstairs window? Which meant a living person must have dressed as Clementia. But who and why?

---

*Now read Part 2  - "The Solution" to find out the answer ...........................Click on the link below:

http://thebaintongraymysteries.blogspot.com/2011/03/part-two-murderer-is-revealed-bainton.html