Barbara St. Vincent

In the short story The Listerdale Mystery, Barbara St. Vincent is the daughter of Mrs St. Vincent and sister of Rupert. After her father died, after losing all his money on speculation and leaving large debts, the family had been forced to sell their family home and move to a cheap boarding house in London. Then Mrs St. Vincent had to sell most of their possessions in order to set Rupert up in a city job. This left very little for the family to get by and Barbara considered getting a job. This was however not easy. Although she had taken a shorthand and typing course, she found that many other girls had also the same qualifications and were also looking for jobs.

Barbara had been dating one Jim Masterson and he might soon ask her to marry him. This was great worry for her mother as Jim wanted to visit her and Barabara at their residence. Mrs St. Vincent was very concerned that Jim should see Barbara in her "proper setting" and not in their cheap boarding house.

Part of Mrs St. Vincent's problem is solved when she manages to rent a town house which belonged to Lord Listerdale for a nominal rent. This allowed a "proper setting" for Jim to call on Mrs St. Vincent and he soon proposed to Barbara. But the rental of the town house came with a mystery: who is Lord Listerdale, what had become of him, and why is the house being rented out so cheaply.