# The Cloven Foot — Character guide

> Key figures in The Cloven Foot by M. E. Braddon.

- [Laura Malcolm](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cloven_foot_se/characters/laura_malcolm.md): Taken in as an orphan by Jasper Treverton, Laura is admired for her grace and reserve — and suspected by village tongues of a past she never explains.
- [George Gerard](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cloven_foot_se/characters/george_gerard.md): A young doctor who fought his way up from a cheap Scotch university and a mother's early death, George Gerard has ambition instead of family and a hunger for the success that will prove him.
- [John Treverton](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cloven_foot_se/characters/john_treverton.md): The new master of Hazlehurst Manor, John Treverton inherits a fortune, a devoted young wife, and a secret heavy enough to break him on his wedding day.
- [Celia Clare](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cloven_foot_se/characters/celia_clare.md): The vicar's lively daughter and Laura's closest friend, Celia fusses over cuffs and collars, teases about husbands, and watches everyone's affairs with sharp, affectionate eyes.
- [Edward Clare](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cloven_foot_se/characters/edward_clare.md): The vicar's son, a would-be poet with a den, a cigar, and a magnum opus always just out of reach, Edward once loved Laura and now studies John Treverton with quiet curiosity.
- [Mr. Desrolles](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cloven_foot_se/characters/mr_desrolles.md): A brutal Frenchman drinking absinthe through the Paris of the Second Empire, Desrolles lives on a pension whose source he guards as jealously as his own neck.
- [Chicot](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cloven_foot_se/characters/chicot.md): Jack Chicot lives in the shadow of his wife's fame, a man whose eyes stay on the ground and whose hands stay in his pockets. He begs La Chicot to refuse the coral-bower stunt, but she mocks his concern and snaps her fing
- [La Chicot](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cloven_foot_se/characters/la_chicot.md): La Chicot is a theatrical sensation in Cibber Street, courted and run after, her name in three-foot capitals across London. She dismisses Jack's warnings about the drunken scene-shifter with a shrug—she means to do it, a
- [Mr. Sampson](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cloven_foot_se/characters/mr_sampson.md): Mr. Sampson keeps a garden door for intimates and a formal door for clients, and he knows John Treverton well enough to ask whether he is flesh or ghost. He prepares the marriage settlement giving Laura everything, warns
- [Gerard](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cloven_foot_se/characters/gerard.md): Gerard moves through the aftermath of La Chicot's murder with clinical precision, examining the tarnished Italian dagger hidden in Jack Chicot's paint box and reading guilt in the husband's disappearance. He knows John C
- [Mrs. Evitt](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cloven_foot_se/characters/mrs_evitt.md): Mrs. Evitt, whom Gerard calls Mrs. Bouncer, keeps the house where La Chicot died and where Desrolles once lodged. Ill with ague and terrified of sleeping near the dead woman's room, she still manages to gossip and to sum
- [Mrs. Treverton](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cloven_foot_se/characters/mrs_treverton.md): Mrs. Treverton moves through the Sunday churchyard scene with quiet dignity, declining luncheon invitations and reminding her children to be punctual. She is the mother of John Treverton, a man whose past she does not fu
- [Thomas Sampson](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cloven_foot_se/characters/thomas_sampson.md): A younger Sampson, often involved in the action.
- [Jasper Treverton](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cloven_foot_se/characters/jasper_treverton.md): The deceased patriarch whose will sets the plot in motion.
- [Mr. Leopold](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cloven_foot_se/characters/mr_leopold.md): A lawyer or investigator who asks probing questions.
- [Eliza Sampson](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cloven_foot_se/characters/eliza_sampson.md): A member of the Sampson family, possibly a servant.
- [Mrs. Rawber](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cloven_foot_se/characters/mrs_rawber.md): A minor character, possibly a housekeeper or neighbor.
- [Mr. Smolendo](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cloven_foot_se/characters/mr_smolendo.md): A hapless individual who meets a bad end.
- [Trimmer](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cloven_foot_se/characters/trimmer.md): A family of servants or tradespeople in the village.
- [Mr. Mosheh](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cloven_foot_se/characters/mr_mosheh.md): A mysterious figure, possibly a moneylender or dealer.
- [Stephen Malcolm](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cloven_foot_se/characters/stephen_malcolm.md): Laura's brother, a young man with a troubled past.
- [Miss Sampson](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cloven_foot_se/characters/miss_sampson.md): A female member of the Sampson family.
- [Mary](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cloven_foot_se/characters/mary.md): A servant or minor character, possibly French.
- [Mrs. Clare](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cloven_foot_se/characters/mrs_clare.md): Mother of Edward and Celia Clare.
- [Zaïre Chicot](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cloven_foot_se/characters/zaire_chicot.md): A missing member of the Chicot family.
- [Mrs. Malcolm](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cloven_foot_se/characters/mrs_malcolm.md): Laura's mother, a background figure.
- [Joseph Lemuel](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cloven_foot_se/characters/joseph_lemuel.md): A lawyer or man of business.
- [Father le Mescam](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cloven_foot_se/characters/father_le_mescam.md): A priest involved in the French storyline.

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