# Mr. Fotheringay — Short Fiction character guide

> Mr. Fotheringay in Short Fiction by H. G. Wells.

**Role:** major

**Also known as:** Fotheringay

**First appearance:** 0053-the-man-who-could-work-miracles

## Snapshot

A draper's assistant who discovers, in the small hours of an ordinary night, that his will can command miracles — and that this power is far more troubling than wonderful.

## Who they are

Mr. Fotheringay is an unremarkable shopman whose mind is not complex enough to be paralysed by the strangeness of what he can do, and so he simply experiments: a raised candle, a match willed into being, a glass of water turned pink and then green. His first scare gives way to pride in his singularity and vague intimations of advantage, though he has no idea what to do with such power. His blundering attempts to fit miracles into the routine of Gomshott's and his own small life drive the story's central comedy and its quiet menace.

## In the story

### [The Red Room](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_25_se/chapters/the-red-room)

The man with the withered arm, one of the three custodians who repeatedly warns the narrator.

### [The Man Who Could Work Miracles](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_25_se/chapters/the-man-who-could-work-miracles)

Protagonist who discovers his miraculous willpower.

### [VIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_25_se/chapters/viii)

The Wicked Man who fled earlier and now sits beside the saint in the shadow of God's sleeve.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_25_se/characters/mr-fotheringay
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_25_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_25_se/characters