Freda Stanton

In the short story The Cornish Mystery, Freda Stanton is the niece of Edward Pengelley, the daughter of his only sister. Some eight years before the events in the story, she moved in to live with her uncle and his wife at the village of Polgarwith in Cornwall.

About a week before the story, Freda had a quarrel with Mrs Pengelley and moved out of the house and rented a room of her own elsewhere in the village. Freda told Poirot later that this had to do with her engagement to Jacob Radnor. Mrs Pengelley, despite her age, had an infatuation for Jacob at the same time and, according to Freda, was "rude and insulting" about the possibility that Jacob could be in love with Freda. Freda lost her temper and so moved out.

Portrayals
In the 1990 ITV film adaptation of The Cornish Mystery, Freda Stanton is portrayed by Chloe Salaman. The portrayal is fairly faithful to the original. There is one additional scene during the reading of the will of Mrs Pengelley. In the original, Mrs Pengelley did not have any money of her own. Here, she is the one with all the wealth. In her will, she left a sum of two thousand pounds to be held in trust until Freda is 40 while the rest of the estate, some 20 thousand pounds is left to Edward Pengelley. Freda breaks down and cries on hearing this.