# Roderick Cardew — Ghost Stories character guide

> Roderick Cardew in Ghost Stories by E. F. Benson.

**Role:** major

**Also known as:** Roderick

**First appearance:** 0028-roderick-s-story

## Snapshot

A dying Chelsea friend persuaded to the marsh country for one last spring, carrying a secret he fences about with gallows humor and quiet courage.

## Who they are

Roderick Cardew is the narrator's oldest friend, gravely ill with heart disease and reluctant to leave his Chelsea rooms until the lure of marshland and big skies wins him over. He speaks of seeing the marsh 'once more' with a resignation that unsettles his host, joking that death is a train everyone catches. His doomed composure and the strange familiarity he cannot place in a stranger's face set the haunting in motion.

## In the story

### [Roderick's Story](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/ghost_stories_se/chapters/roderick-s-story)

The narrator's friend who is terminally ill and accepts an invitation to stay at the narrator's house, which he recognizes as the place where Margaret Alton died.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/ghost_stories_se/characters/roderick_cardew
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/ghost_stories_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/ghost_stories_se/characters