# A Bid for Fortune — Character guide

> Key figures in A Bid for Fortune by Guy Boothby.

- [Unknown Narrator](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_bid_for_fortune_se/characters/unknown_narrator.md): He moves easily between London's Hatton Garden, where pearls and shell prices rule his days, and the pull of Thursday Island's reefs, diggings, and polyglot ports. His gift is talk — he can conjure a gold rush or a Kanak
- [Dr. Nikola](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_bid_for_fortune_se/characters/dr_nikola.md): He operates through intermediaries like Eastover and Draper, receiving reports and issuing orders with the calm of a man who has already won. His signature is in the paper he buys at an ordinary stationer's shop, in lett
- [Richard Hatteras](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_bid_for_fortune_se/characters/richard_hatteras.md): He boards the steamer at Naples with his baggage and his memories, greeting Lord Beckenham like a brother and watching Vesuvius fade astern while he thinks of the Southern Cross and the girl he loves. His history with Ni
- [Lord Beckenham](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_bid_for_fortune_se/characters/lord_beckenham.md): He is delighted to find Hatteras aboard, eager to see everything, and utterly unprepared for the quiet men who study him from a distance. His long conversation with the shrewd, grey-haired stranger overlooking the harbou
- [Prendergast](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_bid_for_fortune_se/characters/prendergast.md): He moves through Melbourne and Sydney as a respectable servant of a noble household, greeting Hatteras with more cordiality than expected and betraying no surprise at anything. His presence in the front row of a theatre,
- [Phyllis](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_bid_for_fortune_se/characters/phyllis.md): She is the reason Hatteras's thoughts turn southward on the voyage home, and the reason a nobleman's proposal is treated as a transaction to be verified with cablegrams and signatures. Her father's wealth makes her a tar
- [Miss Wetherell](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_bid_for_fortune_se/characters/miss_wetherell.md): As Lord Beckenham's daughter and the object of the narrator's protective devotion, Phyllis is carried exhausted from the undergrowth during a frantic escape, then handed to the captain's charge while the men row back for
- [Mr. Mathew Draper](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_bid_for_fortune_se/characters/mr_mathew_draper.md): Draper presents himself to Thompson as an English gentleman flush with racing money, offering the coachman a manager's post and a drink at the Canary Bird Hotel. His small hands, death's-head complexion, and glittering b
- [China Pete](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_bid_for_fortune_se/characters/china_pete.md): China Pete lies dying with the key to a vast fortune in his hand, a talisman the priests of Peking's Llamaserai have tried six times to kill him for. He reveals that Nikola has schemed for five years to obtain it, and th
- [Mr. Matchem](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_bid_for_fortune_se/characters/mr_matchem.md): Matchem works the case from the ground up, drawing out Thompson's account of the Canary Bird Hotel and the affable stranger who plied him with rum. His methodical questioning turns a coachman's muddled memory into a desc
- [McMurtough](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_bid_for_fortune_se/characters/mcmurtough.md): A sailor or ship's officer encountered during the voyage.
- [Eastover](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_bid_for_fortune_se/characters/eastover.md): A minor character met in London or Sydney.
- [James Dymoke Hatteras](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_bid_for_fortune_se/characters/james_dymoke_hatteras.md): Relative of Richard Hatteras, possibly his father or uncle.
- [Mr. Thompson](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_bid_for_fortune_se/characters/mr_thompson.md): A minor character, possibly a servant or official.
- [Dawson](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_bid_for_fortune_se/characters/dawson.md): A crew member or associate on the voyage.
- [Podgers](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_bid_for_fortune_se/characters/podgers.md): A servant or minor functionary in the story.
- [Sir William Hatteras](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_bid_for_fortune_se/characters/sir_william_hatteras.md): A distinguished relative of Richard Hatteras.
- [Ah Chong](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_bid_for_fortune_se/characters/ah_chong.md): A Chinese servant or associate of Dr. Nikola.
- [Mr. Inspector](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_bid_for_fortune_se/characters/mr_inspector.md): A police inspector investigating the crimes.
- [Gwendoline](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_bid_for_fortune_se/characters/gwendoline.md): A young woman briefly appearing in the narrative.
- [Old Donald Maclean](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_bid_for_fortune_se/characters/old_donald_maclean.md): An elderly Scottish character encountered in Australia.
- [Miss Thompson](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_bid_for_fortune_se/characters/miss_thompson.md): A minor female character, possibly a relative of Mr. Thompson.
- [Sally](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_bid_for_fortune_se/characters/sally.md): An elderly servant or relative in the Hatteras household.
- [Mrs. Mayford](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_bid_for_fortune_se/characters/mrs_mayford.md): A landlady or housekeeper with a brief appearance.

HTML index: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_bid_for_fortune_se/characters