“So, you see", explained Bainton, "I have very little contact with my cousin Stephen now...”
Bainton was sitting in a hot, stuffy sitting room. Opposite him sat a dour-faced woman, Miss Jane Stow. Next to her sat the object of Bainton’s affections, her pretty niece, Cordelia Fortescue.
Since his rakish cousin had played a joke on Miss Stow, her feelings towards the Gray family had soured. But Bainton knew that the key to winning Cordelia’s hand in marriage was through Miss Stow. He was going to have to work hard to win her approval.
The formidable Miss Stow now had a task for him. Some acquaintances of hers; a widow - Mrs Salt - and her daughter, were in need of new hats.
Bainton had formed the impression that both women could be a little… difficult. The trouble was, Mrs. Salt seemed to expect special treatment. She'd absolutely insisted that they have the entire hat shop to themselves whilst they chose hats. It "simply wouldn't do" to mingle with anyone else, those were her words.
Bainton realised that he'd have to be willing to comply with this request, if it helped him win the approval of Cordelia's aunt.
He mopped his damp forehead with a large white handkerchief. Then he glanced over at his adored Cordelia. She appeared to be deep in thought, but then she spoke:
“Bainton, I’d be quite wary of Tryphena", she began. "I’ve heard....”she broke off, as her Aunt interrupted her. Miss Stow quickly hushed her - and told her not to gossip!
Bainton took his leave.
Once outside, he took in a deep gasp of lovely, icy cold, refreshing air...
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The day soon arrived when the "difficult" Mrs. Salt and her daughter were due to visit Bainton's shop.
Looking out of the shop window, he spied the two ladies alighting from a handsome carriage. Mrs. Salt signalled to the coachman to wait.
As the door opened, Bainton quickly adjusted his face into a welcoming smile. He was quite taken aback when he came face to face with Tryphena Salt. Her eyes were hauntingly lovely. She wasn’t exactly beautiful, infact she was rather pale. Yet there was something attractive about her.
Tryphena was accompanied by her mother, Mary Salt. Bainton greeted her politely. He noted that she wore a large cross around her neck. She must have been beautiful once, thought Bainton. But he couldn't help thinking that she now looked rather haggard.
The ladies seemed quite amiable, until a disagreement over a bonnet began.
“No, no, my dear!" said Mary Salt. "It doesn’t suit your colouring, or the shape of your head”.
Tryphena flew into a towering rage; her mother responded by ordering her to be quiet. Bainton hurriedly tried to calm both ladies by suggesting other hats, which they both eventually bought.
After the two women had made their choices, Mary Salt stepped outside the shop to speak to her coachmen. She signalled to the footman to give him instructions. Whilst she was in conversation, Bainton was left alone with Tryphena. He was aware of her staring at him very intently. Although he was quite used to ladies gazing admiringly at his attractive features, Miss Salt’s gaze was different. Tryphena spoke to him in a strange voice:
“I believe you must know how the human mind works. You dealt with our quarrel so well. I’m deeply sorry about the outburst. It’s mother, you see. She brings out the worst in me. Can you help me? I’m scared of.. ...scared...." She broke off, as she looked nervously towards the shop window. Suddenly she cried out:
“I JUST SAW SOMEONE AT THE WINDOW!"
Bainton ran over to the window and looked out. But there wasn’t anyone in sight!
“I didn’t see their face", exclaimed Tryphena. "They could have been male or female. I’m being followed wherever I go". Noticing Bainton's look of concern, she continued:
"There's a gathering at our house tomorrow. I'd be so delighted if you could attend". She glanced anxiously towards the window again.
"Please, I must give you my address....", she insisted.
Seeing Bainton's hesitation, she looked at him imploringly: "I'd like.. I mean, I need.. you to be there”.
Bainton was so intrigued that he gave her a fountain pen. She wrote down her address hurriedly.
Tryphena pressed a calling card into his hand.
“Miss Salt”, Bainton started, but Tryphena interrupted: “No, please, call me Try. It's the right name, seeing how Trying I can be.”
She smiled at him. Bainton never forgot the beatific look on her face.
At that moment, her mother returned. Try’s smile faded. She looked rather sorrowful again.
Payment was soon made and Bainton proceeded to pack their chosen hats into boxes. After which the Salts' footman was duly instructed to carry their purchases out to their waiting coach.
With that, the Salts bid Bainton farewell. He watched as they swept majestically out of the shop....
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The next day, Bainton stood on the highly polished doorstep of the Salts' residence.
A maid answered the door. She showed him into a room full of people. Tryphena jumped up excitedly as soon as she saw Bainton. Finding it hard to control her excitement, she announced:
“Mr. Bainton Gray - my wonderful new friend!”
The people around her nodded politely. Try was clearly in high spirits over the gathering.
She then proceeded to introduce her fiance, Charles Browne, to Bainton. Charles was a smart dressed young fellow. He wore a dapper black dinner jacket, with a small green carnation in his buttonhole. He looked at Bainton, eyeing him up in an appraising sort of way.
Bainton didn't fail to notice that Try appeared to be a different person to how she'd seemed yesterday in the shop. She looked more animated when she talked with Charles.
Bainton was then introduced to Try’s friend, Alice Sidlow, a pale-faced young woman. She was rather plain and nondescript. Alice had a serious looking expression on her face. This wasn’t because she was unhappy, Bainton observed. He'd started to notice how she gave a peculiar tight-lipped grimace whenever a joke was told. She did this quite often when Charles spoke. Bainton wondered if it was because she had bad teeth? Perhaps she was self conscious about them?
Try’s mother, Mary, entered the room. Although still in mourning, she was beautifully dressed in a long black gown, with trailing sleeves. She looked quite startled to see Bainton.
As the evening came to an end, Try announced, "You must all come back.... tomorrow!" Everyone agreed.
On his way out, Bainton noticed Try and Charles talking very intently. He was too far away to catch what was said.
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The next day Bainton returned to Try's house. The same people were all there - Mary Salt, Alice and Charles included.
Bainton noticed that Try wasn't in the room. When he enquired about her whereabouts, Mary Salt replied that Try would be joining them later. Try was outside in the gazebo, she said. Mary had a troubled look on her face. She said she’d go and check on her daughter. With that, she left the room.
Not long afterwards, a maid entered the room. She announced that Mrs. Salt had a message for everybody. She had been asked to tell them that Miss Tryphena would be in shortly. After they nodded in acknowledgement, she promptly left.
Soon after, Mary Salt re-entered the room. She stood by the fire, warming herself, her back to her guests.
They all waited for Try to make her appearance.
Bainton hoped Try wouldn't be too long. He was stuck in a conversation with Alice. Unfortunately, he was extremely bored and couldn't escape! She'd spent most of the time telling him about her various cats. She had six of them, it seemed. To confuse things further, all their names started with the letter 'A'.
“Araminta was fighting this morning with Annie”, she trilled.
Bainton’s mind drifted….
“Annabella doesn’t like pilchards, but Amos does”, she continued.
Bainton watched Charles go out of the door, his face set....
“I once had a Tom called Mr. McGuffin, who died of a cat illness. Poor dear! ”
Bainton sneaked a look at his pocket watch. He looked up as Charles came back in....
"....died in a tragic accident; the gun went off while he was cleaning it, I believe. Everything he owned was spotless....”
Bainton started. Realising that the subject of discussion was no longer cats, he asked Alice what she meant. She explained about Try’s late brother, David, who'd died a short while ago. He’d inherited all his father's money. But now that he was dead, the inheritance would go to Try.
Try still hadn't entered the room. Bainton suggested that they had better go and check whether she was alright, as it was getting quite chilly outside. Mary Salt nodded in agreement from behind her fan, which she held up in front of her face.
Bainton went on ahead of the others, closely followed by Charles, Mary and Alice. But they all stopped short in their tracks when they got to the gazebo.
Tryphena was lying there. Blood was pouring from her chest. Bainton leaned over and touched her cheek. Never had he felt so horrified in his life, when he realised that she was icy cold.
Seeing the expression on his face, Mary Salt looked stricken. She let out an anguished sob, whilst continuing to hold her fan to her face, trying to cover her grief.
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The police had been called.
They soon discovered that the knife used to kill Tryphena had gone.
The police questioned everybody, including the maid. She said that Miss Salt had come into the kitchen briefly, just before 12pm, but then went out again.
The police also learnt that Tryphena had made a will, leaving all her money to her fiance Charles. As a result of that, the police apprehended Charles for questioning.
For once, Bainton was actually a murder suspect too. At any other time, it would have amused him to be on the other side of questioning.....
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The next day, the police found burnt fragments of a letter in some bushes. As they attempted to piece them together, it seemed that very few fragments yielded clues:
"ife" - could that word have been wife? That would fit Charles' account to the police, about a broken engagement.
"Tennyson’s Ma.." (The bit after that was burnt off).
Then, "Goodbye".
The writing had already been identified as Tryphena's. But what was the secret that the letter disclosed?
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It was now some weeks since Tryphena's death - and the perpetrator still hadn't been caught. Bainton was growing tired of waiting for the police to solve the case. He was also somewhat exasperated by the way those buffoons had treated him as a suspect!
Fortunately he was no longer under suspicion. So Bainton had more or less decided to take matters into his own hands and do some investigating of his own.
Charles had just come back from London, where he spent most of his time these days. He looked pleased to see Bainton again. He explained that he’d broken off his engagement with Try. He said it was impossible for him to marry her. When asked the reason why he declined to answer, saying it was a personal matter. According to him, she'd taken it badly though.
He also mentioned that when he went outside to look for her, he hadn’t seen her sitting in the gazebo. He'd been quite puzzled by that. He added that he thought she might have been playing a spiteful trick on him, because he'd jilted her.
Bainton returned home. After pondering the news of the ill-fated romance between Try and Charles, he wondered if Mary Salt could shed some light on the matter?
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But Mary told a different story:
“Yes, Tryphena did love Charles once. But it was obvious that she’d become fond of you; she talked of nothing else. She couldn’t go on with marrying Charles.”
This news pierced Bainton through the heart.
Mary claimed that Try had called off her engagement. She went on to reveal how jealous Charles was. She said that he would be insanely jealous if he couldn’t marry Try. She also believed that it was Charles who had followed Tryphena everywhere.
Mary also revealed that the police had asked that morning about Tryphena's inheritance. She'd told them that her daughter had made a will, leaving all her money to her fiance Charles.
Bainton realised that as a result of that, the police would waste no time in hauling Charles in for questioning again. Now that he himself was no longer under suspicion, Charles had to be their main suspect.
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That night Bainton kept turning over events in his mind....
He'd been told two completely different stories - but which story was to be believed?
None of the people he'd met struck him as a murderer. Yet Tryphena Salt was dead, stabbed through the chest. Why?
Two different accounts of a broken engagement. Someone had to be lying....
But who?
What was the meaning of the letter which had been burnt? And why did someone burn it?
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Click on the link below to Part 2 containing the Solution:
