# Mr. Cooper — Short Fiction character guide

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

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Cooper

**First appearance:** 0015-the-stalls-of-barchester-cathedral

## Snapshot

A practical country neighbour who vouches for the new staff at the Hall and lends his time, and his garden keys, to the young heir.

## Who they are

Cooper is a solid, obliging man of the neighbourhood, the sort who can answer for the grooms and gardeners and who treats his own hours as a resource at his friends' disposal. He is proud of the household he has helped assemble and cheerfully agrees to walk the new master over the house and grounds. His daughter's talk of the locked maze and the old temple, and his own easy confidence about the place, give the story its first hints that the Hall's pleasant surfaces may not be the whole of it.

## Relationships

### [Mr. Humphreys](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_35_se/characters/mr_humphreys)

_professional_

Mr. Cooper and Mr. Humphreys are colleagues or business associates with frequent interactions, likely in a work or institutional setting.

### [Mr. Humphreys](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_35_se/characters/mr_humphreys)

_professional_

Mr. Cooper and Mr. Humphreys are colleagues or business associates with frequent interactions, likely in a work or institutional setting.

### [Mr. Humphreys](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_35_se/characters/mr_humphreys)

_professional_

Mr. Cooper and Mr. Humphreys are colleagues or business associates with frequent interactions, likely in a work or institutional setting.

## In the story

### [Mr. Humphreys and His Inheritance](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_35_se/chapters/mr-humphreys-and-his-inheritance)

The estate agent who accompanies Humphreys and discusses the late uncle's character.

## Links

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