Peter Blagden

Unknown Narrator

Peter is a close male friend and confidant of the narrator, often involved in social and romantic intrigues.

Stella Musgrave

Peter and Stella share a friendly rapport, often interacting within the narrator's social orbit.

Unknown Narrator

Peter is a close male friend and confidant of the narrator, often involved in social and romantic intrigues.

Unknown Narrator

Peter is a close male friend and confidant of the narrator, often involved in social and romantic intrigues.

Stella Musgrave

Peter and Stella share a friendly rapport, often interacting within the narrator's social orbit.

III: He Earns a Stickpin

Peter is the narrator's rival for Stella and marries her, asking the narrator to be best man.

V

Peter is described as the only nephew of a wealthy uncle, seven years older than the narrator, and notoriously dissipated, yet likeable.

VIII

Peter asks the narrator to be his best man, fidgets nervously before the wedding, and marries Stella.

IV: He Talks with Charteris

Stella's new husband, who has just been married and departed with his bride.

I

Peter Blagden is mentioned as having just been married and departing with his wife, rice-pelted and entrained.

VII

Mentioned as Stella's husband; the narrator recalls being fond of him.

He Baits Upon the Journey

Mentioned as Stella's husband, who is in Washington on business and is succeeding in his legal career; the narrator teases Stella about Peter's weight.

III

Stella's husband, a lawyer doing well in Washington; his past dissipation is mentioned, and Stella claims credit for reforming him.

XIV: He Participates in a Brave Jest

Peter is found drunk and broken by the narrator, having secretly relapsed into drinking; he is unable to be at Stella's bedside.

III

Peter has disappeared, relapsed into drinking, and is found by the narrator in a state of collapse.

IV

Mentioned as the subject of the narrator's lies; Stella believes he has achieved great success in the Western Railway case.

V

Mentioned as the dependable man Stella chose to marry.

I

Peter is described with vacant red-rimmed eyes at the funeral.

II

Mentioned as alive after Stella's death.

He Plays the Improvident Fool

Mentioned by Lizzie as an example of a man who married for money and lied to his wife, drawing a parallel to the narrator's engagement.

III

Mentioned as the man Stella married, a source of the narrator's pain.

IV

Mentioned as a negative example of a man who married Stella for her money and lied to her.

He Reviles Destiny and Climbs a Wall

Now wealthy and gout-ridden, Peter hosts the narrator at Gridlington and argues with him about gardening and the heiress.

I

Now wealthy and gout-ridden, he is visited by the narrator at Gridlington.

II

Peter, the narrator's friend and host, suffers from gout and criticizes the narrator's mercenary intentions.

XXIV: He Reconciles Sentiment and Reason

Mentioned as the host whose estate Townsend is visiting and who gave him the cigarette case.

II

Townsend's host, whose estate adjoins the Hugonin property; his cigarette-case serves as a prop in the conversation.

XXV: He Advances in the Attack on Selwoode

Host at Gridlington; engages in teasing banter with Townsend about his fortune-hunting and love life.

I

Peter teases the narrator about his fortune-hunting, laughs at his own jokes, and is described as bloated and gout-ridden; he was the man Stella loved.

IV

Mentioned as commenting at luncheon about people who are never on time for meals.

He Assists in the Diversion of Birds

Mentioned as the wealthy man whose identity Townsend borrowed; his cigarette case caused the initial misunderstanding.

II

Mentioned as the wealthy man Avis initially thought Townsend was.

III

Discusses his loneliness and preference for tranquility; considers traveling abroad to escape fortune-hunters.

He Participates in Sundry Confidences

Mentioned as the man Avis is marrying; his letter is referenced.

II

Marries Avis; the narrator receives a letter from him justifying his actions.

He Allows the Merits of Imperfection

Stella's widower; now remarried, wealthy, and known for his sprees; the narrator reflects on how Stella loved him.

II

Peter is now a wealthy man in Lichfield, remarried, and no longer expected to become a great lawyer. He is remembered fondly but has forgotten Stella.