# The Black Mask — Character guide

> Key figures in The Black Mask by E. W. Hornung.

- [A. J. Raffles](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_black_mask_se/characters/raffles.md): Raffles is the magnetic center of these stories: a celebrated athlete whose secret life as a thief depends on perfect composure, careful planning, and the loyalty of his friend Bunny. He is pursued not only by the police
- [Bunny](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_black_mask_se/characters/bunny.md): Bunny is the reader's eyes inside Raffles's double life, a man of decent instincts who keeps choosing loyalty over caution. He is often the one who panics, blunders, or gets handcuffed to a bridge while Raffles improvise
- [Lord Ernest Belville](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_black_mask_se/characters/lord_ernest_belville.md): Lord Ernest Belville presents himself as a gentleman, but when he ambushes Bunny on a darkened bridge and waits for Raffles to emerge, his true nature shows: cold, patient, and utterly willing to kill. He is the story's 
- [Dr. Theobald](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_black_mask_se/characters/theobald.md): Dr. Theobald is the practical man in Raffles's orbit, called in when illness is convenient and questions are unwelcome. He pushes Bunny out of the sickroom with a sovereign and a curt word, yet his evasions leave Bunny u
- [Faustina](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_black_mask_se/characters/faustina.md): Faustina stands at the center of a tense drawing-room scene, confronting a masked intruder with marble composure until Raffles reveals himself and she cries out his name. Her marriage to a dissipated man and her old fond
- [Count Corbucci](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_black_mask_se/characters/corbucci.md): Count Corbucci belongs to the world of Italian intrigue that trails Raffles through London, a man whose wealth and death demand explanation. His presence links the Camorra, the organ-grinders, and the velvet-eyed foreign
- [Corporal Connal](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_black_mask_se/characters/corporal_connal.md): Connal is a colonial soldier risen from the ranks in a hard-fighting South African campaign, a mongrel type whose physical bulk and local knowledge make him useful and dangerous in equal measure. He singles out the narra
- [Mr. Maturin](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_black_mask_se/characters/mr_maturin.md): Mr. Maturin is a bedridden recluse in a London flat, attended only by a doctor he despises and now seeking a gentleman of sorts to serve as his sole nurse and companion. He has no patience for pretense: he strips away th
- [Stefano](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_black_mask_se/characters/stefano.md): An Italian servant or associate in the Faustina affair.
- [Jacques Saillard](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_black_mask_se/characters/jacques_saillard.md): A Frenchman involved in a jewel theft plot.

HTML index: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_black_mask_se/characters