Character guide

Arabella Trefoil

major

Also known as Miss Trefoil, Bell Trefoil, the Trefoil

Arabella Trefoil moves through country-house society with the practiced ease of a woman who has made marriage her profession, tailoring her manner to each eligible man she meets. At Rufford's gathering she flirts with the lord while coolly denying any entanglement with John Morton, aware that every word shapes her prospects. Her charm is genuine but strategic, and the reader watches with uneasy fascination as she works a room, knowing that her future depends on a single yes.

Mary Masters

major

Also known as Polly, Poor Mary

Mary Masters lives under her stepmother's sharp tongue and her father's quiet hopes, caught between duty to family and the pull of her own heart. When she tells her father she cannot marry Lawrence Twentyman, she faces not anger but disappointment, which she finds harder to bear. Her quiet refusal sets the emotional stakes of Dillsborough's marriage market and draws the attention of men far above her station.

Lord Rufford

major

Also known as the Rufford, Rufford

Lord Rufford is the county's most eligible bachelor, charming, indolent, and acutely sensitive to any hint that a woman is choosing him rather than the reverse. His dispute with the tenant Goarly over a poisoned fox draws him into a legal and political storm that the American Senator eagerly inflames. Meanwhile Arabella Trefoil circles him, and his casual gallantry threatens to entangle him far more than he intends.

Lawrence Twentyman

major

Also known as Larry, Mr. Twentyman, poor Larry

Larry Twentyman is the most prosperous young farmer in Dillsborough, good-natured, hard-riding, and universally liked, except by the one person whose affection he most wants. Mary Masters has refused him, and he gives himself a month to decide whether to sell Chowton Farm and leave the country altogether. His unrequited devotion and his blunt contempt for Goarly place him at the crossroads of the novel's rural and romantic tensions.

John Morton

major

Also known as Mr. Morton, John, dear John

John Morton has spent years abroad in the Foreign Office and returns to Bragton as its new squire, a role for which his long absence has poorly prepared him. He is drawn to Arabella Trefoil, though he suspects her motives, and his uneasy relationship with his cousin Reginald hangs over the estate. His American guest, Senator Gotobed, drags him into the Goarly affair, exposing the gap between Morton's careful diplomacy and the raw passions of the countryside.

Reginald Morton

major

Also known as old Reginald Morton, Mr. Reginald

Reginald Morton lives quietly near Dillsborough, a bookish man whose family's long legal defeat has left him estranged from Bragton and its new master. He refuses Mrs. Hopkins's invitation to step inside the house, though he cannot quite stop thinking about it, or about Mary Masters, whose company stirs feelings he thought he had put aside. His wounded pride and reluctant tenderness make him the novel's most quietly complicated figure.

Lady Ushant

supporting

Also known as Poor Lady Ushant, old Lady Ushant

Lady Ushant raised Mary Masters in girlhood and remains the one gentle force pulling her toward Cheltenham and a life above her father's law office. Mrs. Masters resents her bitterly, calling her invitations sly interference and threatening that if Mary goes, she will not stay. The old lady never appears in the quarrel, yet her name carries the whole question of whether Mary may choose her own future.

Lady Augustus Trefoil

supporting

Also known as Lady Augustus, Augustus Trefoil

Lady Augustus moves through Rufford Hall and Bragton with the easy assurance of a somebody, angling for a wealthy match while Lady Penwether watches her with open suspicion. Her daughter's beauty is her chief asset, and she spends it freely, but the diplomatic set already whispers that Morton took Patagonia to escape. She matters because she turns courtship into strategy, and every drawing-room she enters becomes a field of manoeuvre.

Mr. Masters

supporting

Also known as Mrs. Masters, Mr. and Mrs. Masters

Mr. Masters is a respectable solicitor whose domestic authority collapses the moment Mrs. Masters begins to shout, so that his one firm declaration—that Mary shall visit Lady Ushant—ends with him leaving his own house for the public-house. He knows his daughter wrote to Cheltenham and did not stop her, which makes him complicit in the slyness his wife denounces. His weakness matters because Mary's fate depends on a father who means well and cannot hold a line.

Mounser Green

supporting

Also known as Green, Mr. Green, Mr. Mounser Green

Mounser Green holds a comfortable desk at the Foreign Office, arrives at half-past twelve and stays till seven, and treats the marriage prospects of John Morton and Arabella Trefoil as the day's chief business. He is the first to guess that Morton took Patagonia as an escape rather than a promotion, and he says so with the confidence of a man who would not take Bell Trefoil himself for five thousand a year. His gossip gives the reader the diplomatic world's verdict before the principals have admitted it.

Goarly

supporting

Also known as Mr. Goarly, scoundrel Goarly

Goarly is a tenant so unfortunate with his land that he can hardly feed his children, and he has taken on Lord Rufford over seven shillings and sixpence an acre of damaged crops. The Senator admires him for killing the fox and for suing the lord, while Bean the gamekeeper would gladly hang him and the whole country feeling runs against him. He matters because his squalid grievance becomes the test case for whether English justice is anything more than feudalism.

Mr. Runciman

supporting

Also known as Runciman

Mr. Runciman keeps the best inn in Dillsborough and knows exactly where his loyalties lie, which is why he almost turns Senator Gotobed away for sympathising with Goarly. Only Mrs. Runciman's calculation of ten shillings a day, and the memory that Lord Rufford himself had entertained the gentleman, persuades him to relent—though he still withholds the best sherry. His grudging hospitality measures how thoroughly the town closes ranks against an outsider who takes the wrong side.

Mrs. Morton

supporting

Also known as old Mrs. Morton, the Honourable Mrs. Morton

As John Morton's mother and mistress of Bragton, she embodies the old county pride that the novel keeps testing against new money, American manners, and her son's wavering engagements. Her refusal even to hear Reginald Morton's name spoken well reveals a grudge that colors family relations. She matters because her stiffness sets the social temperature her son must navigate, and because her disapproval shadows every choice he makes about love and inheritance.

Lord Augustus

supporting

Also known as Lord Augustus Trefoil, Augustus

Lord Augustus Trefoil belongs to that stratum of titled Englishmen who possess the name but not the means, and whose family arrangements are negotiated like treaties by stronger spouses. His daughter Arabella must hunt a fortune because he cannot supply one, and his passivity leaves Lady Augustus free to scheme. He matters as the quiet proof that Arabella's desperate matrimonial maneuvering is not vanity but necessity.

Lady Penwether

supporting

Also known as Benedict Lady Penwether

Lady Penwether moves through Rufford Hall with the easy authority of a woman who knows everyone worth knowing and every secret worth keeping. She wants her brother married, but not to a penniless schemer, and her smiling interrogation of John Morton is a masterclass in social pressure. She matters because she is the first to see clearly what Arabella is doing, and her quiet opposition raises the stakes of the courtship game.

Kate Masters

supporting

Also known as Kate

In the Masters family at Dillsborough, Kate is the spirited counterweight to her sister Mary's quieter endurance and her mother's volcanic rages. She watches the household storms over Mary's visit to Bragton with the sharp eyes of someone who has learned to survive domestic warfare. She matters because her loyalty to Mary and her unguarded opinions offer the reader a candid view of the social pressures bearing down on her sister.

Senator Gotobed

supporting

Also known as Mr. Gotobed, the Senator, Elias Gotobed

A visiting American senator lodging at Bragton, Gotobed pursues truth with a zeal that scandalizes his hosts, whether he is defending the unpopular Goarly against Lord Rufford or interrogating the game laws at dinner. His hosts find him alternately amusing and insufferable, and his habit of taking the wrong side on principle makes him a walking provocation. He matters because his outsider's eye exposes the absurdities of English rank and custom that the novel's natives take for granted.

Lord Mistletoe

supporting

Also known as Mistletoe, cousin Mistletoe

As the Duke's eldest son, member for the county, and a man with a large family of his own, Lord Mistletoe represents the solid, unromantic alternative in Arabella's marriage calculations. His mother's household at Mistletoe is where Arabella performs her annual campaign of charm, and where her aunt's summons upstairs signals that the family is beginning to discuss her future. He matters because his respectability defines what Arabella might settle for, and because the family's interest in her prospects drives the pressure she feels throughout the novel.

Sir George Penwether

supporting

Also known as Sir George, Penwether

Sir George belongs to the comfortable English gentry whose country houses serve as stages for the marriage games of others. Married to the determined Lady Penwether, he is part of the family circle watching Arabella Trefoil's maneuvers with wary, well-bred amusement. His steady presence anchors the social world in which John Morton must decide whether to claim or release the woman he half-loves.

Bearside

minor

Also known as Mr. Bearside

A lawyer involved in the Dillsborough legal affairs.

Nickem

minor

Also known as Mr. Samuel Nickem, Mr. Nickem

A detective hired to investigate the poaching case.

Miss Penge

minor

Also known as Poor Miss Penge

A wealthy heiress courted by Lord Rufford.

Tony Tuppett

minor

Also known as Tony, Tuppett, Poor Tony Tuppett

A groom at Rufford Hall, loyal to Lord Rufford.

Captain Glomax

minor

Also known as Glomax

A hunting enthusiast and friend of Lord Rufford.

Scrobby

minor

Also known as Mr. Scrobby

A farmer accused of poisoning game, central to a trial.

Major Caneback

minor

Also known as Caneback, the poor Major

A military man and hunting companion who meets a tragic end.

John Runce

minor

Also known as Runce, old Runce

An old servant at Bragton.

Mr. Mainwaring

minor

Also known as young Mainwaring

A young clergyman who dines with the Senator.

Lord Drummond

minor

Also known as Drummond

A Scottish peer and friend of Lord Rufford.

Captain Battersby

minor

Also known as Battersby, that horrid Captain Battersby

A military man who courts Arabella Trefoil.

Archibald Currie

minor

Also known as Currie

A lawyer involved in the Morton family legal matters.

Duchess of Omnium

minor

Also known as the Duchess, Duchess

A high-society hostess who appears at social events.

Mrs. Connop Green

minor

Also known as the Connop Green, old Mrs. Green

An elderly widow and mother of Mounser Green.

Dolly

minor

Also known as Miss Dolly

A young woman in Dillsborough society.

Dr. Nupper

minor

Also known as Nupper, old Dr. Nupper

A local doctor in Dillsborough.

Lady Chiltern

minor

A society friend of Lady Penwether.

Young Hoffmann

minor

Also known as Hoffmann

A young man from a local family.

Charley Glossop

minor

Son of Lord Glossop.

Mrs. Hopkins

minor

Also known as old Mrs. Hopkins

An elderly woman in Dillsborough, mother of a servant.

Gregory Masters

minor

Also known as Mr. Gregory Masters, the late Mr. Masters

Mary's deceased uncle, a former clergyman.

The Paragon

minor

Also known as Poor old Paragon, Poor young Paragon

A horse central to a bet and local gossip.

Mr. Hampton

minor

Also known as young Mr. Hampton, old Mr. Hampton

A gentleman farmer from Hampton Wick.

Ned Botsey

minor

Also known as Botsey, young Botsey

A young man about town, part of the hunting set.

Bean

minor

A servant or minor functionary in Dillsborough.

Jack Slade

minor

Also known as Jack, dear old Jack, Slade

A friend of Lawrence Twentyman, involved in local life.

Harry Stubbings

minor

Also known as Stubbings, Mr. Stubbings, Henry Stubbings

A farmer and acquaintance of the Masters family.

Tom Surbiton

minor

Also known as Surbiton, Tom

A young man from a local family, friend of Ned Botsey.

Lord Glossop

minor

Also known as young Glossop, Glossop

A young nobleman and hunting enthusiast.

Sir John Purefoy

minor

Also known as Sir John, Purefoy

A baronet and neighbor to the Mortons.

Mr. Surtees

minor

A gentleman involved in the hunting community.

Fred Botsey

minor

Also known as Fred

Brother of Ned Botsey, part of the local gentry.

Sundown

minor

A horse owned by Lord Rufford.

Mrs. Runciman

minor

Wife of Mr. Runciman, helps run the Bush inn.

Mr. Puttock

minor

A minor official or tradesman in the town.

Nat Nickem

minor

A relative of Samuel Nickem, also a detective.

Mr. Ribbs

minor

Also known as Ribbs

A lawyer or clerk in Dillsborough.

Old Mrs. Twentyman

minor

Also known as Mrs. Twentyman

Lawrence Twentyman's mother.

Lady Rufford

minor

Lord Rufford's mother, mentioned but not seen.

Jemima

minor

A servant at Rufford Hall.

Peter Morton

minor

Also known as Mr. Peter Morton

A relative of the Morton family, mentioned in the will.

Old Mr. Cooper

minor

Also known as Mr. Cooper, Poor Mr. Cooper

An elderly man in Dillsborough.

Young Jack Runce

minor

Also known as Jack Runce, Poor Jack

Son of old John Runce, a servant at Bragton.

Miss Godolphin

minor

Also known as Godolphin, the younger Miss Godolphin

A young woman in society, friend of Arabella.

Mr. Tankard

minor

Also known as Tankard

A lawyer in Dillsborough.

Mr. Botsey

minor

Also known as young Botsey

Father of Ned and Fred Botsey.

Dr. Fanning

minor

A doctor attending to the sick in Dillsborough.

Grice

minor

A servant or minor character in the Morton household.

Mr. Nokes

minor

Also known as Nokes

A tradesman or official in Dillsborough.

Lord Lambswool

minor

A minor nobleman mentioned in society.

Peter Boyd

minor

Also known as Peter

A young man from a local family.

Dick

minor

A servant or groom at Rufford Hall.

Mat

minor

A minor character, possibly a servant.

Eleanor

minor

A young woman mentioned in passing.

Lady Drummond

minor

Also known as Drummond

Wife of Lord Drummond.

Caroline Penge

minor

Also known as Caroline

Sister of Miss Penge.

Dan

minor

A servant or worker on a farm.

Lady Purefoy

minor

Also known as Purefoy

Wife of Sir John Purefoy.

Josiah Scroome

minor

Also known as Mr. Josiah Scroome

A lawyer involved in the Scrobby trial.

Sir Jeffrey Bunker

minor

Also known as Sir Jeffrey, Old Sir Jeffrey

A baronet and local magistrate.

Mr. Short

minor

A minor official or tradesman.

Tom Bobster

minor

Also known as Tom

A young man from a local family.