# Baptista Heddegan — Short Fiction character guide

> Baptista Heddegan in Short Fiction by Thomas Hardy.

**Role:** minor

**Also known as:** Baptista, The unlucky Baptista, Heddegan

**First appearance:** 0002-destiny-and-a-blue-cloak

## Who they are

An unlucky woman whose marriage plans go awry.

## In the story

### [XVII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_53_se/chapters/xvii)

Not present in this chapter.

### [IV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_53_se/chapters/iv)

Baptista's mother, who is deaf and didactic, urging her daughter to keep her word and marry Heddegan.

### [V](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_53_se/chapters/v)

Newly married to David Heddegan, she is horrified to learn that the room they occupy was just vacated by the corpse of her secret husband, Charles Stow.

### [VI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_53_se/chapters/vi)

Baptista, now married to David Heddegan, secretly attends the funeral of her first husband Charles, then returns to her new life on St. Maria's Island, where she is confronted by the glazier who witnessed her first marriage.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_53_se/characters/baptista_heddegan
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_53_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_53_se/characters