# Bernard — Suspense character guide

> Bernard in Suspense by Joseph Conrad.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Mr. Bernard, the faithful Bernard, the sleek Bernard

**First appearance:** 0001-suspense

## Snapshot

A servant whose long devotion to Sir Charles Latham becomes the quiet measure of what loyalty costs when old ties to a ruined French nobility are weighed against a daughter's future.

## Who they are

Bernard belongs to the household world of Sir Charles Latham, one of those unobtrusive presences whose affection is only fully discovered at the moment it feels lost forever. His master's grief over Adèle d'Armand — the French girl he loved as a second daughter and who has married a mysterious upstart — runs through the house like weather, and Bernard is part of the atmosphere that registers it. He matters as the human gauge of Sir Charles's private sorrow, the servant who knows the family's history well enough to feel its losses as his own.

## Relationships

### [Aglae](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/suspense_se/characters/aglae)

_romantic_

Aglae and Bernard share a flirtatious and playful romance, full of banter and mutual attraction.

### [Aglae](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/suspense_se/characters/aglae)

_romantic_

Aglae and Bernard share a flirtatious and playful romance, full of banter and mutual attraction.

### [Aglae](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/suspense_se/characters/aglae)

_romantic_

Aglae and Bernard share a flirtatious and playful romance, full of banter and mutual attraction.

## In the story

### [II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/suspense_se/chapters/part-i-ii)

The faithful factotum, in love with Aglae, who serves the D'Armand family in London, performing domestic duties and engaging in whispered conversations with Aglae.

### [III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/suspense_se/chapters/part-ii-iii)

The faithful servant of the D'Armand family, appears to announce a visitor and is recognized by Cosmo.

### [VI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/suspense_se/chapters/part-ii-vi)

Appears at the end of the chapter when summoned by Madame de Montevesso to inquire about the Count.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/suspense_se/characters/bernard
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/suspense_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/suspense_se/characters