In the short story The Lernean Hydra, Beatrice King is the maid working for Mrs Marley. A year before the events in the story, Beatrice was working for Dr Charles Oldfield. She was dismissed from that position shortly after the death of Mrs Oldfield. This gave rise to rumours in the village that she might have seen or heard something about how her mistress had died. Beatrice was described as "a short rather sly-looking girl with adenoids. She presented an appearance of stolid stupidity but her eyes were more intelligent than her manner would have led one to expect."
Advertisement