The Vase on the Mantelpiece
Tucked deep inside a tall blue-and-white vase is a torn piece of manuscript paper. Someone has written a few notes on it in pencil.
Type the name of each note, in order, one letter per box.
Case file No. 1812 · Music theory mystery · ABRSM Grade 3
The Forford Hall Mystery
The Case of the Vanishing Metronome
Forford Hall stands at the end of a long avenue of lime trees, its honey-coloured stone glowing in the last of the October sunlight. For three hundred years it has been home to the Forford family, and for one night only it is about to become the most important building in the county.
Tomorrow evening the Hall will host a grand Gala Concert to raise money for a brand-new concert hall in the village of Forford. Musicians are booked, four hundred tickets are sold, and the kitchens have been baking lemon tarts since dawn. But the true star of the evening is not a singer or a pianist. It is a metronome.
Made of polished walnut with a brass pendulum and a tiny sliding weight, it is an early version of the famous Maelzel design, dated 1812. That was the year Beethoven wrote his Eighth Symphony, whose second movement ticks along so neatly that people have long said he was teasing his friend Maelzel's time-keeping invention. Family legend says this very machine once ticked in Beethoven's presence. Tomorrow it will be sold at auction, and it should raise most of the money needed for the new concert hall.
Until then it sits in a glass case in the Drawing Room, on a velvet cushion with a pressure pad beneath it. Two security guards stand at the door, and invisible laser beams criss-cross the floor.
Then, at 18:12 precisely, every light in Forford Hall flickers and dies. For two long minutes the Hall is pitch black, full of bumps, gasps and hurrying footsteps. At 18:14 the power returns. The glass case is open. The velvet cushion is empty.
The metronome has gone!
StolenThe 1812 metronome
Time18:12 to 18:14
SceneThe Drawing Room
DeadlineTomorrow's Gala Concert
Your mission. Work alongside Detective Blanchard of Scotland Yard. In Part 1 you find out who was near the scene. In Part 2 you search the rooms of Forford Hall and solve a theory clue in each to collect ten secret letters. In Part 3 those letters lead you to the Grand Ballroom, where the thief is unmasked. Type your answers and press Check as you go. Your progress is saved on this device.
Briefing
Detective Blanchard Arrives
Detective Inspector Blanchard of Scotland Yard is a tall, unhurried man with a silver moustache and a habit of tapping his pencil in perfect time against his notebook. He looks at the empty glass case and says quietly: "Gather everyone in the Drawing Room. I shall solve this mystery in time for the concert, and I shall start right now."
The security guards never left the door, and the guests had not yet arrived. That leaves six people who were inside Forford Hall when the lights went out. Blanchard asks each of them who they are and what they do. Read their statements carefully: you will need them.
The Heir
Hanson Forford
"I'm the grandson of the late Lord Forford, so one day all of this will be mine. I grew up here and know every corridor by heart. These days I mostly look after the Library, and I spend far too many evenings in the Games Room with my games console."
The Cook
Lea Marsh
"I've cooked at Forford Hall for thirty years. I run the kitchen downstairs, order all the food, and plan every menu. Tomorrow I'm serving a three-course gala dinner for forty guests, so I've barely left the stove all day."
The Butler
Mr Ambrose Pike
"I run the household staff, answer the front door and keep the family silver gleaming. Before every grand event I light the candles in the Ballroom myself. This evening I was waiting at the front door for the auctioneer."
The Visiting Musician
Dr Eldridge Vane
"I'm a pianist and a music historian. I'm writing a book about the music of Forford Hall, so I spend my days in the Music Room studying old, fragile manuscripts, some of them centuries old. I'll be playing the piano at the gala."
The Estate Manager
Cassie Thorne
"I look after the grounds, the stables and every repair to the house, from leaking roofs to crumbling stonework on the front of the building. I'm restoring the portraits in the Long Gallery, and I'm in charge of the security system."
The Chauffeur
Mr Dexter Holloway
"I drive the family's old Rolls-Royce and keep the garage spotless. All week I've been collecting musicians from the station for the gala. Tonight I was due back with the harpist and her harp, which doesn't fit in the boot!"
Part 1 · The Drawing Room
Clues in the Drawing Room
The Drawing Room is enormous. Oil paintings in gilded frames climb the walls, a fire crackles in a marble fireplace, and every table is crowded with porcelain, silver and ornaments. Blanchard walks slowly around the room, tapping his pencil, while the household watches him nervously. Four things catch his eye. Name each note to spell out a word.
The Bronze Horse
A bronze statue of a galloping horse has been moved a few centimetres, leaving a perfect ring of dust behind it. Underneath it lies a folded page, torn from a clipboard.
Type the name of each note, in order, one letter per box.
The Warm Games Console
On a side table sits a games console. Blanchard lays the back of his hand on it. It is still warm, so somebody was using it only minutes ago. Beneath the sofa lies a small scrap of paper with a gold star printed in the corner.
Type the name of each note, in order, one letter per box.
The Crooked Music Stand
Over by the grand piano, the music stand is leaning at a strange angle, as if it had been knocked in a rush to get out. A corner of yellowed manuscript has been torn off and wedged under one of its legs.
Type the name of each note, in order, one letter per box.
Matching the Evidence
Each word is a clue to one of the six people in the briefing. Think about what each person does at the Hall, then choose who each word points to and note why.
| Clue | Word | Points to | Because… |
|---|---|---|---|
| A · Vase | ? | ||
| B · Horse | ? | ||
| C · Console | ? | ||
| D · Music stand | ? |
Blanchard checks the other two stories. Three guests confirm that the butler, Mr Pike, was standing on the front steps with an umbrella when the lights went out. The chauffeur, Mr Holloway, was stuck in a lane two miles away with a very large harp in the back seat. Neither could have reached the Drawing Room. That leaves four suspects: Hanson, Lea, Eldridge and Cassie. "Now," says Blanchard, "we search the rooms each of them could reach."
Part 1 · The suspects' rooms
Where Could They Go?
Blanchard spreads the plan of Forford Hall across the table. In two minutes of darkness, each suspect could only have reached the rooms they know best.
First floor
Long Galleryportraits · clock · tapestry · window over the Ballroom
Ground floor
Library
Games Room
Grand Ballroomthe great chandelier
Drawing Roomscene of the crime
Music Room
Dining Room
Entrance Hall · Grand Staircase
Downstairs
Kitchen
Servants' Hall & Bell Board
| Suspect | Rooms to search | Clues |
|---|---|---|
| Hanson Forford | The Library and the Games Room | 1–2 |
| Lea Marsh | Downstairs (Kitchen, Servants' Hall) and the Dining Room | 3–5 |
| Dr Eldridge Vane | The Music Room | 6–7 |
| Cassie Thorne | The Long Gallery | 8–10 |
Part 2 · Searching the Hall
Ten Clues, Ten Letters
Each room hides a clue card. Solve the theory question to get a number, then turn it into a letter with the cipher (A = 1, B = 2 … Z = 26). The cipher is also in the bar at the top of the page.
1A2B3C4D5E6F7G8H9I10J11K12L13M14N15O16P17Q18R19S20T21U22V23W24X25Y26Z
The Library
HansonFloor-to-ceiling bookshelves, a rolling ladder and the smell of old leather. A green reading lamp is still warm. One book, Forford Hall: A History, has been pulled half out. Inside it is a bookmark with two notes drawn on it. Blanchard also notices that the ladder has been pushed into the far corner, beside a wooden wall panel that does not quite close.
Count both notes to name the number of this interval.
The Games Room
HansonA snooker game has been abandoned halfway, a cue lying across the green cloth. Chalked on the scoreboard is a strange sum made of notes. On the wall is a row of brass hooks, each with a label. One hook, marked "Ballroom Chandelier: winding handle", is empty.
Add up the crotchet beats in these three notes. What is the total?
The Kitchen
LeaDown the stone steps lies the warm, bustling kitchen: copper pans gleam on the walls and forty lemon tarts are cooling on the long table. Pinned to the corkboard is Lea's favourite saying: "Every recipe must be complete, and so must every bar." Next to it is a recipe card with one unfinished bar. On the dresser, a box of new white candles for the Ballroom chandelier has been counted out by the butler: "40 candles, 1 spare."
This bar is in 4/4 time. How many crotchet beats are missing?
The Servants' Hall
LeaA long row of brass bells hangs on a board, each one labelled with a room of the house. When someone pulls the cord in that room, its bell rings down here. These bells work on wires, not electricity. One bell is still gently quivering, and its label reads "Grand Ballroom". Beneath the board, someone has chalked a key signature.
How many flats are in this key signature? (Bonus: can you name the major key?)
The Dining Room
LeaThe great mahogany table is laid for tomorrow's gala dinner: forty places, silver cutlery and crystal glasses that wink in the light. A footman tells Blanchard that Lea came up at 18:10 to check the menu cards, and that she lit a candle the moment the lights failed. One menu card has a scale written on it, with a single note marked with an X.
This is the scale of D major. Which degree of the scale is the note marked X?
The Music Room is Dr Vane's kingdom: a grand piano, a harp under a dust sheet and a glass cabinet of old flutes and fiddles. His desk is buried in notebooks for his new book, Hidden Histories of the Nursery Rhyme. One note reads: "Twinkle, Twinkle uses an old French tune, 'Ah! vous dirai-je, maman'. Mozart wrote twelve variations on it!"
The Music Room: the Piano
EldridgeOpen on the piano is the first half of Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, copied out in Dr Vane's spidery hand.
Count every note in this extract. How many are there altogether?
The Music Room: the Desk
EldridgeOn the desk lies Old MacDonald Had a Farm. The words E-I-E-I-O have been underlined twice in red ink, and in the margin Dr Vane has written: "Always E before I! People get this wrong in so many old songbooks." Blanchard copies the note carefully into his notebook. He has a feeling he will need it later.
Bar 1 is in 4/4 time. How many quavers would it take to fill bar 1?
Up the grand staircase runs the Long Gallery: forty metres of polished floorboards, tall moonlit windows, and the portraits of three centuries of Forfords gazing down. Halfway along, an inside window looks straight down into the Grand Ballroom. Cassie tells Blanchard that during the blackout she saw "a little torch beam flickering high up, near the ceiling" of the Ballroom.
The Portrait of Sir Rupert Forford, 1812
CassieSir Rupert, who bought the metronome, is painted holding a sheet of music. Cassie's restorers have just cleaned it, and the notes are bright and clear again.
How many semiquavers would fill one bar of this time signature?
The Grandfather Clock
CassieThe tall clock still ticks: it needs no electricity. Engraved around its face is a little tune, but the time signature has worn away.
Every bar has the same number of crotchet beats. What should the top number of the time signature be?
The Tapestry
CassieA faded tapestry shows musicians at a medieval feast. Its border is embroidered with two bars of a scale, stitched one crotchet at a time. Pinned beside it is Cassie's repair note: "Count every crotchet, then add the top number of the time signature. That is how many stitches need redoing."
How many crotchets are there in the two bars? Add the top number of the time signature. What is the total?
Part 2 · Decoding
Unscramble the Letters
Your letters appear here as you solve each clue, in clue order. Copy each one into the box number shown under it: clue 1 goes to box 6, clue 2 to box 8, and so on.
1
to box62
to box83
to box34
to box55
to box96
to box47
to box28
to box109
to box110
to box7Blanchard's hint: "Look up! It hangs high above the dancers in the Grand Ballroom, it glitters with crystal, and it has forty candles. And remember: Cassie saw a torch beam near the ceiling."
Part 3 · The Grand Ballroom
The Unmasking
Blanchard leads everyone into the Grand Ballroom. Gold leaf glimmers on the ceiling, mirrors line the walls, and high above the polished floor hangs the great chandelier: a waterfall of crystal drops holding forty white candles.
"Fetch the winding handle," says Blanchard. Cassie finds it at last, not on its hook in the Games Room but lying behind a curtain. Slowly the chandelier is wound down until it hangs just above their heads. Mr Pike, the butler, lights the candles one by one, as he does before every ball.
Thirty-nine flames flicker into life. But one candle has been knocked crooked in its holder, its wick bent and squashed. However hard Mr Pike tries, it will not light.
Blanchard strokes his moustache. "A candle… not alight," he says slowly. "Now that is a clue."
Puzzle 1. The candle is not alight, so take the word CANDLE out of CHANDELIER. Tap a letter to cross it out (use each letter of CANDLE once).
Puzzle 2. That is not quite a word. Remember what Dr Vane wrote in the margin of his music. Go back and check if you need to. What word do the letters really make, and who is the thief?
Need another clue?
Look at clue 7 in the Music Room. Dr Vane wrote that the letters in E-I-E-I-O must always go in a certain order. Do yours?
Case closed
Tick… Tick… Tick…
As the chandelier swayed gently above them, everyone in the Ballroom heard it: a soft, steady tick… tick… tick… coming from deep inside the crystal. Blanchard reached into the hollow golden crown at the centre of the chandelier and lifted out a bundle of green velvet. Inside, its brass pendulum still swinging, was the 1812 metronome.
"The heir," said Blanchard, turning to the young man by the door. "Hanson Forford." Hanson went pale. Then, slowly, he nodded.
"It was cleverly done," Blanchard went on. "You chose the moment yourself: 18:12, the year the metronome was made. Who else in this house would have thought of that? You plugged the old heater into the same socket as your games console, and the ancient wiring tripped every fuse in the Hall. In the dark, with the lasers and the pressure pad switched off, you lifted the metronome from its case. You have walked these corridors since you were a boy."
"Through the loose panel in the Library you took the old servants' passage straight to the Ballroom, collecting the winding handle from the Games Room on the way. You lowered the chandelier, hid the metronome in its crown and wound it back up. But in your hurry you knocked one candle crooked, and as you rushed out your sleeve caught the bell-pull, which is why the Ballroom bell was still quivering downstairs. Cassie saw your torch from the Long Gallery. And you were back on the sofa before the lights returned, with your console still warm, but you didn't notice the scrap of paper that slipped beneath you."
"I didn't want to keep it for myself," said Hanson quietly. "Grandfather used to let me set it ticking when I was small. I couldn't bear the thought of a stranger taking it away. I thought if it vanished, the auction would be cancelled and I'd find it again afterwards."
"And the new concert hall?" asked Blanchard gently. "All those children who would learn to play there?" Hanson looked at the floor for a long moment. "Sell it," he said at last. "Grandfather would have wanted the music to go on."
And the others? Lea had popped up from the kitchen with a tray of tasting tarts and tucked her vegetable order into the vase for safe keeping. Cassie had moved the bronze horse to check for dust before the auctioneers arrived. Dr Vane had knocked the music stand while hurrying to find a torch. All three were innocent.
The following evening the Gala Concert went ahead. Beneath a chandelier with all forty candles burning brightly, the 1812 metronome set the tempo for the opening piece. Dr Vane played the piano, and Hanson turned the pages. When the auctioneer's hammer finally fell, the room rose to its feet. Forford would have its concert hall.
Case closed.
The Forford Hall Mystery · Case No. 1812