# Helen Vaughan — Short Fiction character guide

> Helen Vaughan in Short Fiction by Arthur Machen.

**Role:** major

**Also known as:** Helen

**First appearance:** 0000-the-great-god-pan

## Snapshot

An olive-skinned orphan placed in a Welsh farmhouse who roams the forest alone for hours, drawing a village's quiet unease toward her.

## Who they are

Helen arrives at Mr. R.'s farm as a girl of twelve, reticent about her past and unlike anyone in the hamlet, with a foreign cast to her features and a guardian who lets her do as she chooses. She spends whole days in the forest and winters shut in her room, a solitude that unsettles the neighbours even before the singular incidents begin. Her strangeness and the freedom granted her make her the still centre around which the story's dread gathers, long before anyone can name what she is.

## In the story

### [The Great God Pan](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_6_se/chapters/the-great-god-pan)

The enigmatic woman at the center of the suicides, revealed to be the child of Pan.

### [IV: The Discovery in Paul Street](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_6_se/chapters/iv-the-discovery-in-paul-street)

Helen Vaughan is identified as Herbert's wife and the woman in the sketch. Her name is written on the back of the portrait, linking her to the strange events.

### [The Letter of Advice](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_6_se/chapters/v-the-letter-of-advice)

Referred to as Mrs. Herbert; Villiers identifies her portrait in Meyrick's drawings and suspects she will return to London.

### [VI: The Suicides](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_6_se/chapters/vi-the-suicides)

Helen Vaughan is the former Mrs. Herbert, whose whereabouts Villiers has been unable to trace. She is suspected of having gone abroad, and her possible connection to the suicides looms in the background.

### [VII: The Encounter in Soho](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_6_se/chapters/vii-the-encounter-in-soho)

Identified as the same person as Mrs. Beaumont and Mrs. Herbert; linked to the Paul Street case and a history of depravity in Soho.

### [The Fragments](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_6_se/chapters/viii-the-fragments)

The monstrous offspring of Raymond's experiment; her death and transformation are described in detail.

## Links

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