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Whatever happiness the couple and the Marten family may have shared in this new parenthood, however, was to be short-lived as the infant grew progressively weaker and died a fortnight after Maria’s return; Corder himself may not even have seen the child alive.
    Whether he felt genuine grief at the loss or simply considered his son’s death to be a partial alleviation of his gradually mounting financial commitments is unclear. In what was no doubt a charged and emotional atmosphere following the bereavement, Corder persuaded all concerned that it would be prudent to conceal the birth and death from becoming common knowledge around the Polstead area and as such the infant’s body should be buried secretly and outside of the district. To these ends Maria agreed to accompany the farmer and, under increasing pressure from Thomas and Ann Marten to honour his promises to their daughter, Corder placed the corpse in a wooden box and the two left to bury the child in Sudbury.
    What passed between the couple during the course of this unpleasant task is unknown but the grim facts are that the tiny body never reached the town and in fact was buried in an unmarked grave, probably in a field somewhere on the Corder farm on the outskirts of Polstead. Why they chose to do this has never come to light but most likely the decision was Corder’s and not Maria’s. At this point in time no one would have realised that this tragic young woman had in fact less than a month to live.
    Maria Marten was last seen alive on 18 May 1837. Despite a growing tension between the couple, understandable due to the macabre circumstances of the clandestine burial of their child – something that Maria clearly felt unhappy with – and which was undoubtedly not helped by an earlier incident of thievery on Corder’s part when he intercepted and spent one of Peter Matthew’s maintenance payments for Thomas Henry, Corder began making arrangements for marriage. On the excuse that, according to local rumour, John Balham, the district police constable, was about to serve Maria with an arrest warrant for bastardy (which amounted practically to a charge of prostitution), Corder made the suggestion that they travel to Ipswich to marry by special licence and a date was fixed for Monday 14 May. However, business at Stoke Fair delayed the farmer’s return to Polstead and this, coupled with the sudden illness of James Corder at Street Farm, had the result that it was not until the following Friday that William Corder finally arrived at the Marten cottage.
    Relief that the man was at last acknowledging his commitments was somewhat tempered by his immediate plans for the trip. Corder was insistent on secrecy and that they should not be seen leaving together. To achieve this the couple would take to the Red Barn a bag containing Maria’s clothes; they were to go there separately and, to ensure the success of the plan, Maria was to travel dressed in male clothing. Corder later left with a brown holland bag containing an assortment of clothes: a black silk gown, stockings, a leghorn hat and other items, returning some time afterwards with a suitable disguise for Maria comprising clothes apparently belonging to his brother James. Maria changed into these: a brown coat, striped waistcoat and blue trousers; she wore a man’s hat over her hair combs and concealed her earrings with a large silk handkerchief. Around half-past twelve, following a tearful farewell with her parents, the couple left the cottage by separate doors and made their way across the fields towards the distant Red Barn, out of village obscurity and into the annals of both criminal and supernatural history.
    The following day Corder returned to Polstead alone. Problems with the marriage licence, so he informed Thomas and Ann Marten, had delayed the union and until these were sorted out Maria had decided to stay on in Ipswich. Over the next few weeks Corder continued to work on at Street Farm, but without