# Miss Marjoribanks — Character guide

> Key figures in Miss Marjoribanks by Margaret Oliphant.

- [Lucilla Marjoribanks](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/miss_marjoribanks_se/characters/lucilla_marjoribanks.md): Lucilla arrives in Carlingford armed with novels, popular philosophy, and a genius for social strategy, determined to become the indispensable center of the town's drawing rooms. Her masterstroke is the duet: she sacrifi
- [Miss Marjoribanks](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/miss_marjoribanks_se/characters/miss_marjoribanks.md): When Lucilla loses her mother at fifteen, she resolves on the train home to become the sunshine of her father's life, a resolution drawn as much from literature as from grief. That early scene establishes the pattern of 
- [Dr. Marjoribanks](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/miss_marjoribanks_se/characters/dr_marjoribanks.md): The Doctor is too occupied with his patients to waste feeling on sentiment, which makes him the ideal parent for a daughter who wants a free hand. He indulges Lucilla's schemes not from weakness but from a kind of amused
- [Tom Marjoribanks](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/miss_marjoribanks_se/characters/tom_marjoribanks.md): Tom arrives from India by the nine o'clock train just as the kitchen has been put to rights, hungry, apologetic, and utterly incapable of adapting to circumstance. His blunders are so reliable that Lucilla treats them as
- [Mr. Cavendish](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/miss_marjoribanks_se/characters/mr_cavendish.md): Mr. Cavendish is exactly what Lucilla needs: a man who can flirt, who is under efficient discipline, and who is capable of carrying out a grand conception. For a virtuous interval he behaves with perfect decorum, and Mrs
- [Barbara Lake](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/miss_marjoribanks_se/characters/barbara_lake.md): Barbara is two years older than Lucilla, dark and glowing, with straight black eyebrows and a shyness that looks like scared defiance. She has never forgiven her mother for dying at the moment when she was on the thresho
- [Rose Lake](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/miss_marjoribanks_se/characters/rose_lake.md): Rose is the overlooked Lake daughter, packed off to Mount Pleasant by a sister who cannot bear to see anyone happy while she herself must drudge. Where Barbara burns with thwarted ambition and a fine contralto, Rose is p
- [Mrs. Chiley](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/miss_marjoribanks_se/characters/mrs_chiley.md): Mrs. Chiley is the sympathetic elder neighbor who grasps Lucilla's hand at supreme moments and feels the flattery of being sole confidante to so daring an undertaking. She supplies the gossip and gentle counsel that keep
- [Mrs. Woodburn](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/miss_marjoribanks_se/characters/mrs_woodburn.md): Once the sullen contralto who overstayed her welcome at Lucilla's piano, Barbara has become Mrs. Woodburn, a married woman whose disappointment curdles into acid commentary. She reads Lucilla's composure as proof of a se
- [Mr. Ashburton](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/miss_marjoribanks_se/characters/mr_ashburton.md): Mr. Ashburton represents the dignified, conventional ending that Carlingford assumes awaits its presiding genius: a good man, a proper marriage, a commonplace conclusion. His very fitness throws Lucilla's originality int
- [Mrs. Mortimer](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/miss_marjoribanks_se/characters/mrs_mortimer.md): A widow and friend of the Marjoribanks family, often involved in local social affairs.
- [Archdeacon Beverley](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/miss_marjoribanks_se/characters/archdeacon_beverley.md): A high-ranking churchman and influential figure in Carlingford society.
- [Aunt Jemima](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/miss_marjoribanks_se/characters/aunt_jemima.md): Lucilla's aunt who visits and offers domestic advice and support.
- [Nancy](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/miss_marjoribanks_se/characters/nancy.md): The Marjoribanks' formidable and loyal housekeeper.
- [Mrs. Marjoribanks](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/miss_marjoribanks_se/characters/mrs_marjoribanks.md): Lucilla's deceased mother, often mentioned as a model of domestic virtue.
- [Mrs. Centum](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/miss_marjoribanks_se/characters/mrs_centum.md): A wealthy and somewhat eccentric couple who host social gatherings.
- [Colonel Chiley](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/miss_marjoribanks_se/characters/colonel_chiley.md): Mrs. Chiley's husband, a retired military man of few words.
- [Mr. Lake](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/miss_marjoribanks_se/characters/mr_lake.md): The father of Barbara and Rose, a struggling drawing master.
- [Miss Bury](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/miss_marjoribanks_se/characters/miss_bury.md): A spinster who keeps company with the Bury family and local gossips.
- [Mr. Bury](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/miss_marjoribanks_se/characters/mr_bury.md): A local gentleman, often seen in Carlingford social circles.
- [General Travers](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/miss_marjoribanks_se/characters/general_travers.md): A retired military officer and friend of the Marjoribanks family.
- [Papa](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/miss_marjoribanks_se/characters/papa.md): Lucilla's affectionate term for her father, Dr. Marjoribanks.
- [Major Brown](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/miss_marjoribanks_se/characters/major_brown.md): A retired military man and father of the Brown sisters.

HTML index: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/miss_marjoribanks_se/characters