# Edward Darnell — Short Fiction character guide

> Edward Darnell in Short Fiction by Arthur Machen.

**Role:** major

**Also known as:** Darnell, Edward

**First appearance:** 0019-a-fragment-of-life

## Snapshot

A City clerk who has begun to suspect that his sound commercial education taught him nothing worth knowing, and that the whole fabric of ordinary life is sunken in absurdity.

## Who they are

Darnell is an English City clerk flourishing toward the end of the nineteenth century, equipped with a commercial education that left him unable to articulate any thought worth thinking. Yet on certain mornings he grows certain that common sense is the smallest item in an ant's equipment, and that he and his fellow-workers are like fair stones of an altar serving as a pigsty wall. He knows, dimly but certainly, that man is made for mysteries and visions — and he is preparing himself for a great experiment.

## In the story

### [A Fragment of Life](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_6_se/chapters/a-fragment-of-life)

The protagonist, a clerk whose inner life is contrasted with his mundane external existence.

### [The Spare Room](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_6_se/chapters/i)

Preoccupied with household expenses and furnishing the spare room; experiences fleeting visions of an ancient, magical world.

### [II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_6_se/chapters/ii)

Narrates his secret childhood journeys through London, describing the enchantment and mystery he found.

### [III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_6_se/chapters/iii)

Listens to Mary's tale of Aunt Marian, grows uneasy, and reflects on the encroaching chaos in his life.

### [The Veil Grows Thin](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_6_se/chapters/iv)

Becomes deeply absorbed in family records and Latin, experiences visions and a sense of great adventure, and is annoyed by Mr. Nixon's visit.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_6_se/characters/edward_darnell
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_6_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_6_se/characters