Character guide

Rosemary Fowkes

major

Also known as Rosemary, Rosemary Tarkington, Poor Rosemary

Rosemary moves through Transylvanian drawing rooms as the admired wife of Jasper Tarkington, yet Peter Blakeney's sudden arrival at Kis-Imre strips away her practiced calm. She is caught between loyalty to a husband whose kindness she cannot repay and the pull of a youth she thought she had buried; Peter alone sees that she is thinner, feverish, unhappy. Her private ache drives the novel's central question of whether love or duty will govern her choices as political danger closes in.

Peter Blakeney

major

Also known as Peter, M. Blakeney, Blakeney

Peter reappears at Kis-Imre after years abroad, slipping into the garden to find Rosemary among the tiger lilies and instantly reading the strain she tries to hide. His lighthearted manner—hands in his flannel pockets, teasing about pixies—gives way to blunt honesty when he tells her she is not happy. He matters because his presence unsettles Rosemary's marriage and because his mysterious dealings with General Naniescu hint that he is playing a deeper game than anyone suspects.

Elza Imrey

supporting

Also known as Elza, Aunt Elza, dear Aunt Elza

Elza walks through the village with head held erect after devastating news, saving her collapse for the privacy of her own hall. Her first thought is how to break the news to her husband Maurus, and she refuses Rosemary's offer to do it for her, insisting she knows exactly what to say. She forgets nothing—baths, coffee, the guests, the chef's milk rolls—because busyness is her only defense against despair, and her stoic management of the household anchors the Imrey family through crisis.

General Naniescu

supporting

Also known as Naniescu, old Naniescu

Naniescu wields power through soft-spoken arrangements, summoning Peter Blakeney by telephone and steering Jasper into the dining-room to keep him from overhearing. He offers Rosemary an abominable 'either-or' that trades her journalistic integrity for the liberty of Philip and Anna, presenting it as generosity. His watchful, calculating presence transforms personal loyalties into political stakes, and his interest in Rosemary's pen makes her a pawn in a game she never chose to play.

Jasper Tarkington

supporting

Also known as Jasper, Tarkington, Dear old Jasper

Jasper marries Rosemary knowing she does not love him, and his magnanimity—cushions, footstools, tears kissed away on a train to Budapest—only deepens her guilt. He is kind, sensible, and clear-thinking, yet his coolness toward the plight of Philip and Anna chills Rosemary and leaves her unable to ask his advice. His unselfish love is the moral counterweight to Peter's passion, and his blindness to what Rosemary truly feels shapes the quiet tragedy of her marriage.

Anna Heves

supporting

Also known as Anna, little Anna, Little Anna Heves

Anna is the child Rosemary remembers, now living alone at Kolozsvár for reasons Peter cannot fathom, and he asks Rosemary to look her up and give her a kiss from him. Her sweetness and enthusiasm make her easy to love and easy to endanger, and her involvement with Philip Imrey's political scheming turns her into one of Naniescu's leverage points. She matters because her fate becomes the test of whether Rosemary will compromise her principles to save the innocent.

Maurus Imrey

supporting

Also known as Maurus, Count Imrey, the Imrey

Count Imrey is the fiery patriarch of the Imrey household, a man whose dark eyes and ungoverned passions make him both commanding and dangerously impulsive. When Romanian soldiers descend on his home, he charges them like an infuriated bull, hurling invective and fists until his wife Elza pins him down, whispering desperate pleas for their son Philip's safety. His inability to master his temper transforms a tense political moment into a family crisis, and his reckless defiance raises the stakes for everyone in the château.

Philip Imrey

supporting

Also known as Philip, Count Philip Imrey, young Imrey

Philip Imrey is the impetuous heir whose foolish entanglement in anti-government plots has made his name a byword for trouble among those who love him. His cousin Anna shares his dangerous secrets, and Rosemary Tarkington blames herself for not having steered the girl away from his mad schemes. Though Philip himself is absent from the early household scenes, his reckless choices ripple outward, turning his mother Elza's composure into silent agony and making every knock at the door feel like a threat to the whole family.

M. de Kervoisin

minor

Also known as de Kervoisin, Kervoisin

A French diplomat or gentleman involved in social circles.

Number Ten

minor

Also known as friend Number Ten, Number

A mysterious figure referred to by a code number.

Alice Gerbier

minor

Also known as Alice, old mother Gerbier, Poor Alice

An elderly woman with a tragic past.

Lady Orange

minor

Also known as II Lady Orange

A titled woman of some social standing.

Anton

minor

Also known as Poor Anton

A servant or local man with a minor role.

Rosa

minor

A woman with a brief but notable appearance.

Miss Fairfax

minor

A young woman of some social prominence.

Sir George Orange

minor

Also known as George, Sir George, George Orange

A knighted gentleman with a minor role.

Captain Payson

minor

Also known as Captain, Payson

A captain involved in military or travel scenes.

Lady Tarkington

minor

Also known as Tarkington, dear Lady Tarkington

A noblewoman and relative of Jasper Tarkington.

Lord Tarkington

minor

Also known as the late Lord Tarkington, milord Tarkington

A deceased nobleman mentioned in conversation.

Dr. Zacharias

minor

A physician attending to characters in need.

Feri

minor

A local man with a small part in the story.

Major Buriecha

minor

Also known as Buriecha

A military officer of some authority.

Mrs. Blakeney

minor

A relative of Peter Blakeney mentioned in passing.

János

minor

A Hungarian character with a brief appearance.

Countess Imrey

minor

Also known as the Countess Imrey, the gracious Countess Imrey

A noblewoman of the Imrey family.

Lieutenant Uriesu

minor

A junior military officer.

Charlotte Heves

minor

Also known as Charlotte

A relative of Anna Heves.

Mademoiselle Fairfax

minor

Also known as Mademoiselle

A French-speaking woman of some note.

Lady Vi Dartmouth

minor

Also known as VI

A titled lady with a minor role.

Julia Fairfax

minor

A woman possibly related to Miss Fairfax.