Barnaby Rudge

Gathered round the fire at the Maypole Inn in the village of Chigwell on a foul weather evening in the year 1775 were John Willet proprietor of the Maypole and his three cronies. One of the three Soloman Daisy tells a stranger at the inn a well-known local tale of the murder of Reuben Haredale which had occurred 22 years ago that very day. Reuben had been owner of the Warren an estate in the area now the residence of the deceased Reuben's brother Geoffrey and his niece Reuben's daughter Emma Haredale. After the murder Reuben's gardener and steward were missing and suspects in the crime. The steward's body was later found identified only by clothes and jewelry. The gardener was never found and was assumed to be the murderer. But was he?