Character guide

Jimmy Pitt

major

Also known as Jimmy, James, Pitt, Mr. Pitt, Mr. James Pitt

Jimmy Pitt is the charmed darling of the Strollers' Club — rich, unmarried, unencumbered, and bored enough to accept a reckless bet about breaking into a stranger's home. He is also quietly haunted by a girl he met once a year ago, a memory that makes him restless and sends him drifting toward England. His wager, his charm, and his inconvenient honesty collide when the house he picks turns out to belong to people he cannot simply rob and forget.

Spike Mullins

supporting

Also known as Spike, Mullins, the Mullins, Mr. Mullins

Spike Mullins is a reformed-ish cracksman from the Bowery who attaches himself to Jimmy Pitt with the devotion of a disciple, shuffling into scenes with furtive glee and mangled vowels. He has no use for marriage, girls, or respectability, and his professional instincts keep threatening to resurface at the worst possible moments. His presence is a running joke and a genuine liability — a reminder that Jimmy's past and his polished new life do not mix cleanly.

Molly McEachern

major

Also known as Molly, McEachern, Molly McEachern

Molly McEachern is the spirited daughter of a self-made millionaire, and she is being quietly maneuvered by her father and Sir Thomas Blunt toward a marriage with Lord Dreever. She is neither fooled nor flattered by the arrangement, and her refusal of his lordship is delivered with a dry, devastating wit that leaves him almost relieved. Her independence and her instinct for seeing past performance make her the emotional center of the novel's romantic complications.

Sir Thomas Blunt

supporting

Also known as Sir Thomas, Blunt, Thomas, Thomas Blunt

Sir Thomas Blunt is new money playing at old blood, having married Lady Julia and scattered largesse for two years before deciding to retrench. He has cut off Lord Dreever's allowance and replaced it with a humiliating ask-and-justify arrangement, all while nursing his own fussy horror of untidiness and disorder. His vanity and his penny-pinching make him both a comic target and a genuine obstacle to the younger characters' happiness.

Lord Dreever

supporting

Also known as Dreever, the present Lord Dreever, poor Lord Dreever

Lord Dreever is the present Earl of Dreever, heir to a castle and a gruesome secret that is supposed to make grown men stop smiling — a fate his gurgling laugh suggests he has escaped. He is engaged to Molly McEachern by family arrangement, though she has just declined to remain so, and he is far more interested in a girl he met at the Savoy. His good-natured fecklessness and his uncle's financial chokehold make him a sympathetic, hapless figure caught between duty and desire.

John McEachern

supporting

Also known as Mr. McEachern, McEachern, old man McEachern

John McEachern is a former policeman turned wealthy New Yorker, blunt, watchful, and determined to see Molly married into the peerage. He regards Jimmy Pitt with immediate suspicion and is not above hiring a private inquiry agent to keep an eye on the guests at Dreever Castle. His protective instincts and his old professional habits make him a formidable obstacle — and his discovery of the truth about Jimmy threatens to blow the whole romantic plot apart.

Spennie Dreever

supporting

Also known as Spennie, Dreever

Spennie Dreever moves through the easy, smoke-filled world of the Strollers' Club, where young men fresh from the theatre trade gossip about Jimmy Pitt's return from Europe and envy his money, health, and bachelor freedom. Spennie belongs to that same gilded set, but his role is less the fortunate idler than the amiable bumbler whose schemes and scrapes keep the social comedy turning. His friendship with Jimmy places him at the edge of the novel's early mischief, where a gentleman's leisure is less about rest than about the trouble one can stumble into between bets, clubs, and late-night talk.

Hargate

minor

Also known as the Hon. Louis Hargate, the silent Hargate

A quiet, observant friend of the main group, known for his skill at piquet.

Arthur Mifflin

minor

Also known as Mifflin, Arthur, Good old Arthur

A cheerful and loyal friend of Jimmy, often involved in his schemes.

Lady Julia Blunt

minor

Also known as Lady Julia, Julia, Aunt Julia

Sir Thomas's sharp-tongued and practical wife.

Samuel Galer

minor

Also known as Galer, Mr. Samuel Galer, Mr. Galer

A dashing and somewhat shady character who causes trouble.

Charteris

minor

Also known as Mr. Charteris

A friend of the group, often present at social gatherings.

Hildebrand Spencer Poyns de Burgh

minor

Also known as Hildebrand Spencer, Spencer

A young man with a long name, involved in the social circle.

Saunders

minor

Also known as old Saunders

The long-suffering butler at Sir Thomas's household.

Rastus

minor

Also known as the bulldog Rastus

A bulldog owned by the McEacherns, who plays a role in the plot.

Raikes

minor

A servant or employee at the Dreever estate.

John Forrest

minor

Also known as John, Forrest

A friend of the main characters, occasionally mentioned.

Willett

minor

A character who appears in the later part of the story.

Katie

minor

A maid or servant in the McEachern household.

Dixon

minor

A servant or employee at the Dreever estate.