# Mr. Abney — Short Fiction character guide

> Mr. Abney in Short Fiction by M. R. James.

**Role:** major

**First appearance:** 0001-lost-hearts

## Snapshot

A scholarly cousin who takes in a boy for the season and fills his house with books, notes, and a quiet, watchful interest in the equinox.

## Who they are

Mr. Abney is a man of learning and leisure who has invited his young cousin Stephen to stay at his house in the cathedral close, where he keeps a book of observations and a keen eye on the calendar. He is kind in a distracted way, but his remarks about the spring equinox being a critical time for the young, and his habit of noting Stephen's nightmares as data, give his hospitality an unsettling edge. His experiments and his book are the quiet engine of the story's dread.

## In the story

### [Lost Hearts](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_35_se/chapters/lost-hearts)

Reclusive scholar of pagan mysteries and owner of Aswarby Hall; secretly a murderer who kills children to absorb their hearts.

## Links

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