Beatrice Barron

Beatrice Barron (Living under the name Alice Clayton) was a character in the short story The Voice in the Dark from The Mysterious Mr. Quin. She was the elder sister of Barbara Barron and was next in line to their cousin’s title as baron Stranleigh. But while the sisters was on the ship Uralia with their maid Alice Clayton, it sank. Beatrice and Barbara were among the few survivors of the incident, but a blow to the head caused Beatrice to lose her memory. The self-centered Barbara saw a chance to eliminate the only person who stood between her and the baron title and deliberately misidentified her sister as the maid Alice Clayton who had drowned. Beatrice didn’t doubt what was told to her and believed that she was Alice Clayton, the Barron-sisters’ maid. When Lord Stranleigh died, Barbara inherited the title and the fortune. She kept her sister in her employment, likely to keep an eye on her in case Beatrice regained her memory, but forty years passed without it ever happened.

Eventually Beatrice did regain her memory and realized what her sister has done. But the injury had damage her mentality, so she haunted her niece, Margery, pretending to be her own ghost and drowned her sister in the bathtub, in anger.

When Mr Satterthwaite realized the truth, Beatrice died from a heart failure before he and Margery could confront her.