The Argosy, Vol. 29

The Mysteries of Heron Dyke This serialized mystery, appearing in May 1880 (Vol. XXIX), continues in Chapter XIII with winter settling over the coastal Heron Dyke mansion. After servants Martha and Ann depart following Aaron Stone's anger, London servants Phemie and Eliza arrive, ignorant of the hall's supposed haunting. Phemie gossips in town and learns of Miss Winter's disappeared maid, Katherine Keen, whose loss caused prior servants' terror—strange doors slamming, sobbing voices, and apparitions in the night. Later, Katherine's distraught sister Susan acosts Eliza in the park, begging her to search the sealed north wing for Katherine's body, convinced she was murdered there. Simultaneously, aging Squire Denison, now confined indoors, summons his lawyer; a professional nurse, Mrs. Dexter, arrives from London; and carpenter Shalders installs locked baize-covered doors restricting access to the Squire's rooms to four authorized key-holders. The narrative interweaves the mounting household mystery with Eliza's growing fear.