Character guide

Bertram Cope

major

Also known as Cope, Mr. Cope, young Cope

Cope arrives in a university town as a promising young man with fine hair, a resonant voice, and a habit of caution that shades into inexpressiveness. At Medora Phillips's dinner table he is meant to shine, but the flowers, lights, and burgundy overwhelm him, and he faints before he can sing. His guardedness and his physical appeal make him a screen onto which hostesses, suitors, and friends project their own desires, and that mismatch drives the social comedy and quiet unease of the novel's first half.

Basil Randolph

major

Also known as Randolph, Mr. Randolph

Randolph moves through the town with the ease of a man whose business runs itself, his brother on the board of trustees, his limousine always ready. He steps forward at the right moment to sponsor Cope, but Medora Phillips reads his motives with half-veiled suspicion, and he admits he is not sure he is glad for what he did. His rivalry with Medora for influence over Cope turns social hospitality into a quiet contest, and his own feelings remain the least examined thing in the room.

Medora Phillips

major

Also known as Medora Townsend Phillips, Mrs. Phillips, Aunt Medora

Medora arranges flowers, lights, wine, and an accompanist, confident that her choicest circle will find Cope as charming as she does. When he makes less impression than she hoped, she blames the granddaughter, the town, and finally the guests, nursing a grievance that hardens into rivalry with Basil Randolph. Her house is the novel's social engine, and her need to control the impression Cope makes exposes how much of hospitality is really about the hostess.

Arthur Lemoyne

supporting

Also known as Lemoyne, Mr. Lemoyne, Dear Arthur

Lemoyne shares Cope's rooms and his desk of themes, and he is the first person Cope mentions when Amy calls, a fact she notices with irritation. When he returns from winning a part, he finds Cope sunk in gloom and immediately guesses the cause, then urges him to draft a letter ending the engagement, drawing on clichés from the roles he has played. His devotion is both a comfort and a complication, and his readiness to script Cope's love life makes him a comic and faintly troubling presence in the middle chapters.

Amy Leffingwell

supporting

Also known as Amy

Amy calls Cope at his lodging house, hoping for a quiet hour, and instead hears him mention Arthur Lemoyne first and then retreat into careful, overhearable generalities. She presses him about a week of neglect, and his suave non-answers, pitched for the spinster above, land on her as evasion. Her final abrupt good night carries a ring of resolution, and her grievance sets up the rupture that Lemoyne will later urge Cope to formalize in writing.

Joe Foster

supporting

Also known as Joseph Foster, Foster

Foster belongs to the small circle of people around Cope who are not competing for him, and his steadiness throws the scheming of Medora and Randolph into relief. He shares the ordinary texture of Cope's life—rooms, work, errands—while the more glamorous hostesses and suitors circle. His loyalty gives Cope one relationship uncomplicated by ambition, and his presence helps measure how much Cope's caution costs him elsewhere.

Hortense Dunton

supporting

Also known as Hortense, dear Hortense

Hortense moves through Churchton society armed with irony and a keen eye for the difference between the staid older generation and the brilliant younger one. Her contempt for Cope becomes boundless once a dashing, well-connected correspondent from Nashville enters her orbit, revealing how tightly she ties worth to pedigree and purse. She matters because her judgments expose the social calculations that quietly shape the circle around Cope.

Carolyn Thorpe

supporting

Also known as Carolyn, poor Carolyn

Carolyn is the unaggressive girl one can trust oneself with, sensible of shoe and plain of hair, easily overlooked beside fluffier or more emphatic rivals. When Cope writes to her of his own accord, she treats a handful of husks as a banquet and lives on it for days, her whole world illuminated by a single taper. Her patient, self-effacing devotion gives the early arc its tender counterweight to the more theatrical attachments around Cope.

George F. Pearson

minor

Also known as Pearson, George Pearson, Young Pearson

A colleague of Randolph, involved in academic and social circles.

Rosalys Cope

minor

Also known as Rosalys, Miss Rosalys M.

Cope's sister, who visits and adds family dynamics to the story.

Mrs. Ryder

minor

Also known as little Mrs. Ryder, the enthusiastic Mrs. Ryder

A lively, talkative woman who appears at social events.

Helga

minor

A maid or servant in the Phillips home, occasionally mentioned.

Aunt Harriet

minor

An elderly relative of one of the characters, mentioned briefly.

M. Pelouse

minor

Also known as Pearson . M. Pelouse

A French academic acquaintance of Pearson, briefly mentioned.

Roddy

minor

Also known as poor Roddy

A minor character, possibly a servant or local, mentioned in passing.

Sing-Lo

minor

A Chinese servant in the Phillips household, depicted stereotypically.

Freeford

minor

Also known as the Freeford

A location or possibly a minor character, referenced briefly.

Bacon

minor

A minor character, possibly a student or acquaintance, named once.

William

minor

A minor character, possibly a servant, mentioned briefly.

Mrs. Peck

minor

A minor character, possibly a neighbor, mentioned in passing.

Pelleas

minor

A literary reference or nickname used in conversation.

Annabella

minor

A minor female character, possibly a friend, named once.