# Louis Bastine — Iola Leroy character guide

> Louis Bastine in Iola Leroy by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Bastine, Louis

**First appearance:** 0015-xiii-a-rejected-suitor

## Snapshot

A French Creole suitor whose charm and careful attention to Iola mask the very lineage secret that could undo her hard-won place in free society.

## Who they are

Bastine moves through the novel's courtship world as a polished admirer, drawn to Iola's refinement and beauty while remaining alert to the racial distinctions that structure Creole society. His attentiveness carries an uneasy double edge: affection tangled with the instinct to classify, to place her, to know exactly what she is. That tension makes him a quiet test of the world Iola is trying to enter, and of how quickly welcome can turn when heritage surfaces.

## In the story

### [XII: Schoolgirl Notions](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/iola_leroy_se/chapters/xii-schoolgirl-notions)

Attorney for Lorraine who conspires to trick Iola into returning South to be sold into slavery, valuing her at $2,000.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/iola_leroy_se/characters/louis_bastine
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- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/iola_leroy_se/characters