# Dennistoun — Short Fiction character guide

> Dennistoun in Short Fiction by M. R. James.

**Role:** major

**First appearance:** 0007-the-treasure-of-abbot-thomas

## Snapshot

A scholarly antiquary touring French churches who follows a nervous sacristan home in hope of old books, and finds his collector's instincts leading him somewhere far stranger.

## Who they are

Dennistoun is an amateur of old manuscripts and church antiquities, patient with crumbling choir-books and half-legible paintings, and quietly delighted by the prospect of unransacked corners of France. Yet the sacristan's inexplicable tears before a crude miracle-picture, the laughing voice in the locked tower, and the man's sudden plunge from irresolution into invitation unsettle his scholarly composure. His appetite for discovery is precisely what draws him toward the abbey's buried secret, and his trained eye for detail makes him a witness we trust.

## In the story

### [Canon Alberic's Scrapbook](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_35_se/chapters/canon-alberic-s-scrapbook)

The protagonist who acquires the scrapbook and is deeply impressed by the drawing.

### [The Mezzotint](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_35_se/chapters/the-mezzotint)

Mentioned as the source of a similar story that influenced Mr. Williams.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_35_se/characters/dennistoun
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_35_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_35_se/characters