# Mistress Ivy Peppercorn — Lud-in-the-Mist character guide

> Mistress Ivy Peppercorn in Lud-in-the-Mist by Hope Mirrlees.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Mistress Ivy, Ivy, Ivy Peppercorn

**First appearance:** 0020-xviii-mistress-ivy-peppercorn

## Snapshot

A sharp-eyed widow who runs a boarding house, remembers everything, and weighs every confidence before deciding whose side she is on.

## Who they are

Mistress Ivy keeps rooms, keeps accounts, and keeps her own counsel, deflecting nosy questions with a suspicious look and a well-placed sigh for her late husband. She knows the country talk about her father's death — how two drops of blood became a gallon by the time the story reached Moongrass — and she knows exactly why Pugwalker left. Her wary, piecemeal disclosures give an investigator his first real thread, and her mixture of grief, shrewdness, and self-interest makes her a witness no one can quite read.

## Relationships

### [Master Nathaniel Chanticleer](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/lud_in_the_mist_se/characters/master_nathaniel_chanticleer)

_social_

Ivy Peppercorn is a fellow townsfolk and acquaintance, interacting with Nathaniel in the social sphere of Lud-in-the-Mist.

### [Master Nathaniel Chanticleer](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/lud_in_the_mist_se/characters/master_nathaniel_chanticleer)

_social_

Ivy Peppercorn is a fellow townsfolk and acquaintance, interacting with Nathaniel in the social sphere of Lud-in-the-Mist.

### [Master Nathaniel Chanticleer](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/lud_in_the_mist_se/characters/master_nathaniel_chanticleer)

_social_

Ivy Peppercorn is a fellow townsfolk and acquaintance, interacting with Nathaniel in the social sphere of Lud-in-the-Mist.

## In the story

### [XVIII: Mistress Ivy Peppercorn](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/lud_in_the_mist_se/chapters/xviii-mistress-ivy-peppercorn)

Daughter of Farmer Gibberty, now a grocer in Mothgreen; she shares her distrust of her stepmother and identifies Dr. Leer as the former Christopher Pugwalker.

### [XXVI: “Neither Trees nor Men”](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/lud_in_the_mist_se/chapters/xxvi-neither-trees-nor-men)

Testifies in a flustered, timid manner, repeating what she told Master Nathaniel.

### [XXIX: A Message Comes to Hazel and the First Swallow to Dame Marigold](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/lud_in_the_mist_se/chapters/xxix-a-message-comes-to-hazel-and-the-first-swallow-to-dame-marigold)

Mistress Ivy accompanies Hazel to deliver the message, though she is reluctant and frightened by the rough tavern. She supports Hazel despite her own fears.

### [Conclusion](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/lud_in_the_mist_se/chapters/xxxii-conclusion)

Comes to live with Hazel and Sebastian Thug on the farm.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/lud_in_the_mist_se/characters/mistress_ivy_peppercorn
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/lud_in_the_mist_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/lud_in_the_mist_se/characters