Malverne Manor — Helen York

Claire comes to Malverne Manor at the behest of her cousin Amy who had preceded her to marry Sir Edmond and preside there, not counting on his widowed aunt Edythe who has no intention of stepping aside. In fact she's the one who's still there while Amy has disappeared and equal attempts are made to dispose of Claire whether by Sir Edmond? Lady Edythe? or a painter Brian who seems to be everywhere and nowhere at once?

It was the last of Amy's letters--desperate and fearful--that brought Claire Atwood hurrying to Malverne Manor.

"Now the situation had become more serious," Amy had written. "If you don't come--Oh, I cannot imagine your not coming, Claire. You must."

So different from those earlier, joyous, sun-filled pages full of references to the wedding soon to take place.

Imagine Claire's surprise, on arriving at Malverne Manor, to be received with the utmost kindness and to discover that May had never been at the Manor.

Where had the letters come from? Who had written them? And, more important, where was Amy?

I stopped suddenly in the road. I'd been hurrying because of the cold wind and threatening rain, but now that I'd come around a bend in the road, Malverne Manor abruptly came into view and, looking up at the manor house, I remembered all at once that Amy had written in the letter I received yesterday... "You must come in secret, Claire, or they will turn you away."

Glancing over my shoulder to the village in the distance, I wondered whether it wouldn't be more sensible to return to the Three Crowns Inn. I could inquire there about Malverne Manor, perhaps engage the help of the local constable.

There'd been a number of things in Amy's letters from the Manor that had caused me to wonder whether Amy wasn't holding back, whether, indeed, the situation at Malverne Manor wasn't more serious than she'd intimated...

Despite her emphasis upon the secrecy of my arrival, I remained standing in the road, hesitating, my eyes on the village in the distance. It seemed wiser, I thought, to return to the inn...

But, no, that wouldn't do, Amy had stressed that I come in secret, warning me that "Even so, they will probably turn you away."