Rachel Howells
From The Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopedia
Fictional character.
In the Sherlock Holmes stories
- Rachel Howells was the second housemaid at Hurlstone, the Musgrave family's ancestral home (MUSG 79).
- She was engaged to Richard Brunton, the butler, but he broke off the engagement in favour of another woman, Janet Tregellis (MUSG 79).
- Richard Brunton persuaded her to help him raise the heavy stone hiding the Stuart crown (MUSG 323). She likely trapped him inside the chamber — either out of revenge or in a moment of passion and fury — leading to his death (MUSG 339).
- She disappeared soon after. Her footprints led to the edge of the mere (lake), where the bag containing the crown and coins was found (MUSG 159). Her body was never recovered, and Sherlock Holmes suspected she escaped abroad (MUSG 387).
