# Phoebe Marks — Lady Audley’s Secret character guide > Phoebe Marks in Lady Audley’s Secret by M. E. Braddon. **Role:** supporting **Also known as:** Phoebe, poor Phoebe, Marks **First appearance:** 0006-vii-after-a-year ## Snapshot Lady Audley's quiet, watchful maid, whose faint resemblance to her mistress binds her to secrets she never chose to keep. ## Who they are Phoebe Marks is the white-eyelashed attendant who reads French novels with her mistress and glides through the dark passages of Audley Court like a shadow of her. Her likeness to Lady Audley is subtle but real, and it draws her into confidences and errands that grow more compromising by the month. Caught between loyalty, fear, and her own modest ambitions, Phoebe becomes the silent hinge on which much of the household's hidden machinery turns. ## Relationships ### [Lady Audley](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/lady_audley_s_secret_se/characters/lady_audley) _professional_ Phoebe is Lady Audley's maid and confidante, but their relationship is built on Lady Audley's manipulation and Phoebe's fear. ### [Luke Marks](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/lady_audley_s_secret_se/characters/luke_marks) _family_ Luke is Phoebe's husband, a brutish and greedy man who exploits her connection to Lady Audley for blackmail. ### [Robert Audley](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/lady_audley_s_secret_se/characters/robert_audley) _psychological_ Phoebe is a reluctant informant for Robert, torn between loyalty to Lady Audley and fear of her own husband. ### [Lady Audley](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/lady_audley_s_secret_se/characters/lady_audley) _professional_ Phoebe is Lady Audley's maid and confidante, but their relationship is built on Lady Audley's manipulation and Phoebe's fear. ### [Luke Marks](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/lady_audley_s_secret_se/characters/luke_marks) _family_ Luke is Phoebe's husband, a brutish and greedy man who exploits her connection to Lady Audley for blackmail. ### [Luke Marks](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/lady_audley_s_secret_se/characters/luke_marks) _family_ Luke is Phoebe's husband, a brutish and greedy man who exploits her connection to Lady Audley for blackmail. ### [Lady Audley](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/lady_audley_s_secret_se/characters/lady_audley) _professional_ Phoebe is Lady Audley's maid and confidante, but their relationship is built on Lady Audley's manipulation and Phoebe's fear. ### [Robert Audley](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/lady_audley_s_secret_se/characters/robert_audley) _psychological_ Phoebe is a reluctant informant for Robert, torn between loyalty to Lady Audley and fear of her own husband. ### [Robert Audley](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/lady_audley_s_secret_se/characters/robert_audley) _psychological_ Phoebe is a reluctant informant for Robert, torn between loyalty to Lady Audley and fear of her own husband. ## In the story ### [III: Hidden Relics](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/lady_audley_s_secret_se/chapters/iii-hidden-relics) Lady Audley's maid, shows Luke the house and discovers the secret drawer. ### [After a Year](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/lady_audley_s_secret_se/chapters/vii-after-a-year) Lady Audley's maid; receives a secret commission to go to London; told to keep her own counsel. ### [IX: After the Storm](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/lady_audley_s_secret_se/chapters/ix-after-the-storm) Answers Lady Audley's bell and is ordered to remove the glove and other items; Lady Audley promises her a firm friend and a twenty-pound note. ### [XIV: Phoebe's Suitor](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/lady_audley_s_secret_se/chapters/xiv-phoebe-s-suitor) Reveals her fear of her cousin Luke and her reluctant promise to marry him, despite wanting to leave her situation. ### [XV: On the Watch](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/lady_audley_s_secret_se/chapters/xv-on-the-watch) Marries Luke Marks in a foggy November morning, wearing a gray silk dress given by her mistress. ### [Robert Audley Gets His Conge](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/lady_audley_s_secret_se/chapters/xvi-robert-audley-gets-his-conge) Robert asks her if he can be accommodated with apartments at the inn in Mount Stanning. ### [At the Castle Inn](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/lady_audley_s_secret_se/chapters/xvii-at-the-castle-inn) Serves Robert tea, sends a warning note to Lady Audley, and shows anxiety about Robert's inquiries. ### [XVIII: Robert Receives a Visitor Whom He Had Scarcely Expected](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/lady_audley_s_secret_se/chapters/xviii-robert-receives-a-visitor-whom-he-had-scarcely-expected) Announces Lady Audley's arrival to Robert. ### [XXXI: Phoebe's Petition](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/lady_audley_s_secret_se/chapters/xxxi-phoebe-s-petition) Visits Lady Audley at night, sent by her husband Luke to ask for money; she is torn between loyalty and coercion. ### [XXXII: The Red Light in the Sky](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/lady_audley_s_secret_se/chapters/xxxii-the-red-light-in-the-sky) Accompanies Lady Audley on the night walk; she is horrified by the fire and accuses Lady Audley of setting it deliberately. ### [Ghost-Haunted](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/lady_audley_s_secret_se/chapters/xxxviii-ghost-haunted) Phoebe is attending her husband Luke in his illness at his mother's cottage near Audley Court. ### [XXXIX: That Which the Dying Man Had to Tell](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/lady_audley_s_secret_se/chapters/xxxix-that-which-the-dying-man-had-to-tell) Asleep in the room below during Luke's confession; had been involved in the secret through her knowledge of the events. ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/lady_audley_s_secret_se/characters/phoebe_marks - Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/lady_audley_s_secret_se - All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/lady_audley_s_secret_se/characters