In Pursuit of Clarinda — Mabel Esther Allan

When Lucy falls down in Hyde Park Clarinda Thorpe, a stranger, picks her up. A little later Lucy is startled to hear Clarinda say that her uncle and aunt are trying to murder her. “I expect you'll think I'm mad, but I have to tell someone… I think they're planning to kill me.” Though startled at this revelation from an acquaintance of less than an hour, Lucy believes Clarinda. And when she is unexpectedly hustled away by her uncle and aunt (Are they really just giving her a holiday �" or planning to stage a tragic ‘accident' away from prying eyes?) Lucy and William, her handsome new neighbour, set off in pursuit. The trail takes them to the Chiltern hills, Snowdonia and a beautiful Tudor manor house in the Vale of Clwyd. When Clarinda suddenly vanishes, Lucy discovers a very sinister situation.