# Mr. Villiers — Short Fiction character guide

> Mr. Villiers in Short Fiction by Arthur Machen.

**Role:** major

**Also known as:** Villiers

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

## Snapshot

A well-connected London gentleman who cannot let a dead man's story rest, and whose pursuit of Herbert's widow turns a chance encounter into an obsession.

## Who they are

Villiers moves easily through Piccadilly and the clubland of men who know things, but it is a beggar in the street he cannot forget: Herbert, ruined, who said his wife had destroyed him body and soul. Where his friend Austin counsels caution and Clarke's letter begs him to burn the portrait and blot out the story, Villiers reads both as dares. His restless curiosity is the engine that drags polite society toward the abyss it would rather ignore.

## In the story

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

Investigates the mysterious suicides and the figure of Helen Vaughan.

### [III: The City of Resurrections](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_6_se/chapters/iii-the-city-of-resurrections)

Villiers encounters his old friend Charles Herbert, now a beggar, and later discusses the Paul Street case with Austin.

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

Villiers recounts his encounter with the degraded Herbert and his investigation of the Paul Street house, where a man died of terror. He shows Clarke the sketch of Helen Vaughan.

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

Villiers recounts his encounter with Herbert and his plan to find Mrs. Herbert; he identifies Mrs. Herbert in Meyrick's drawings.

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

Villiers is deeply shaken by the suicide of his friend Herries and remains obsessed with tracing Helen Vaughan. He listens to Austin's account of Mrs. Beaumont and the suicides, showing a growing unease.

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

Reveals his discovery that Mrs. Beaumont is Mrs. Herbert/Helen Vaughan; describes his investigation in Soho and his plan to confront her with Clarke.

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

Present at Helen's death but unaware of the full secret of the wood.

## Links

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