When Bunny and Markham Gilder sent their youngest child to college, they gave the house a long-overdue interior design makeover. Out with the tattered furniture stained by years of kids and dogs. In with an eclectic chrome-and-glass collection befitting the lobby of a boutique hotel. 

“What’s your favorite thing in here?” Bunny asked her husband as they nestled on the  mid-century black-tweed sofa and surveyed the “after” effect of the living room’s do-over.

Markham pointed to the sole remaining piece of brown furniture, a 19th Century Italianate table passed down from his grandmother. On its inlaid octagonal top sat a Mad Men-era ashtray-and-lighter combo and a stylish new lamp made with clear-glass spheres. Markham playfully waved his fingers on either side of the lamp’s largest globe, like a fortune-teller gazing into a crystal ball. “I see exciting things for this room… like poker night when you’re out of town.”

Bunny smacked him on the arm and scolded, “No cigars in my freshly painted house. Promise?”

“Promise,” Markham conceded. And Bunny almost believed him.

But when she returned from her mid-December girls’ trip to the beach, she smelled stale smoke, and her suspicious nose led her to the newly appointed room, where she found a burn mark camouflaged in the dark upholstery of the sofa’s arm.

“You promised no cigars!” Bunny said, almost in tears. “This is why we can’t have nice things!”

Markham denied any bad behavior and even launched into an outlandish story about how he found the sofa smoking and smothered it with a wet towel. “I am actually a hero,” he said.

Bunny gave Markham the silent treat overnight. 

The next afternoon, while sulking on the singed sofa, Bunny felt a sudden pain on her arm. She whipped her head around, expecting to find her husband. But no one else was home.

When Markham did return, Bunny smothered him with kisses. 

“I’m sorry I didn’t believe you,” she said. “You are a hero!”

What changed Bunny’s mind? 

THE SOLUTION / SPOILER ALERT!

While the names and details have been changed to protect the innocent, a version of this story really happened. The sofa caught fire, the alarm went off, and the fire department arrived. Even after the damaged sofa was removed and the room was put back in order, suspicions ran wild about possible crime. But a few days later—close to the winter solstice—the homeowner noticed sun beaming through the south-facing window and the glass globe of the lamp, causing yet another hot spot where the sofa had been singed. Fortunately, they caught it before a second conflagration. 

Buttercup loves a mystery. Please share any riddles you stumble into in your real-life house and garden.