loved. Freddie told the Crumpet that everything happened because of Fate, so there is no reason to worry about it. The Crumpet tells a Bean the following story about what happened. In New York, Freddie is happily engaged to Mavis Peasemarch, an upstanding church-going girl and daughter of Lord Bodsham. One day, Freddie reads (and believes) scandal stories in a tabloid, and later sees a plain-looking girl struggling with a heavy suitcase. Freddie offers to help, and they go to her flat. Fatigued after carrying the suitcase, Freddie rests on a chair and talks to the girl, who is named Myra Jennings. Suddenly, the door bursts open, and three men enter. They remark that their case is open and shut now that they have discovered Mrs. Silvers with a man, and Freddie infers that they are private detectives. When Myra points out they are in the wrong flat, the detectives pay for the door and leave. Freddie tells Mavis and her father what happened, and they become suspicious about Freddie seeing another girl. To clear himself of suspicion, Freddie plans to show Mavis that the girl he helped is plain-looking. He goes to Myra Jennings's flat, but she is out. Myra's neighbour, a beautiful woman wearing a negligee, complains that her room is too hot and persuades Freddie to help her open her window, which is stuck. Mrs. Silvers, as she turns out to be, tells Freddie how she is unhappy with her jealous husband. Freddie holds her hand sympathetically. At that moment, the door flies open, and the detectives appear again. The detectives think Freddie is romantically involved with Mrs. Silvers, and say that Mrs. Silvers should be ashamed. Freddie, offended that they are aspersing a woman's name, injudiciously hits the head detective. He ends up in a prison cell. In the morning, he pays the court fifty dollars, and discovers the scandal of his being discovered with Mrs. Silvers in a newspaper. Deciding he could not convince Mavis or her father of the truth, he returns to England. As his boat docks at Southampton, he sees a very pretty girl drop her vanity bag. He ignores this, having given up on helping damsels in distress. "Tried in the Furnace" UK: Strand, September 1935 US: Cosmopolitan, March 1937 The story introduces the recurring character Barmy Fotheringay-Phipps and features Pongo Twistleton. The character Angelica Briscoe would later appear in the