# Clarisse Mergy — The Crystal Stopper character guide > Clarisse Mergy in The Crystal Stopper by Maurice Leblanc. **Role:** major **Also known as:** Mergy, Clarisse, Mme. Mergy **First appearance:** 0000-i-the-arrests ## Snapshot A widowed mother who once chose the wrong man to refuse, and now watches her son condemned while the man she spurned gloats over her. ## Who they are Clarisse was Clarisse Darcel when three young men in Nice loved her; she married Victorien Mergy, and Daubrecq's revenge has been unfolding ever since — her husband dead by his own hand, her son Gilbert raised into crime, her name dragged through scandal. In Daubrecq's rooms she reaches for a water-bottle stopper and then for a dagger, and Lupin, watching, realizes she is hunting the same object he is. Her desperation is the story's engine: every move Lupin makes is measured against the question of whether Gilbert lives. ## Relationships ### [Arsène Lupin](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_crystal_stopper_se/characters/arsene_lupin) _romantic_ Lupin and Clarisse share a passionate and tragic romantic bond, driven by her desperation to save her son and his devotion to her. ### [Alexis Daubrecq](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_crystal_stopper_se/characters/alexis_daubrecq) _psychological_ Daubrecq manipulates and torments Clarisse, using her love for her son as leverage to control her actions. ### [Gilbert](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_crystal_stopper_se/characters/gilbert) _family_ Clarisse is Gilbert's mother, and her every action is driven by a desperate, maternal love to save him from execution. ### [Prasville](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_crystal_stopper_se/characters/prasville) _professional_ Clarisse interacts with Prasville as a desperate petitioner, seeking his influence to save her son from the guillotine. ### [Alexis Daubrecq](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_crystal_stopper_se/characters/alexis_daubrecq) _psychological_ Daubrecq manipulates and torments Clarisse, using her love for her son as leverage to control her actions. ### [Arsène Lupin](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_crystal_stopper_se/characters/arsene_lupin) _romantic_ Lupin and Clarisse share a passionate and tragic romantic bond, driven by her desperation to save her son and his devotion to her. ### [Gilbert](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_crystal_stopper_se/characters/gilbert) _family_ Clarisse is Gilbert's mother, and her every action is driven by a desperate, maternal love to save him from execution. ### [Prasville](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_crystal_stopper_se/characters/prasville) _professional_ Clarisse interacts with Prasville as a desperate petitioner, seeking his influence to save her son from the guillotine. ### [Arsène Lupin](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_crystal_stopper_se/characters/arsene_lupin) _romantic_ Lupin and Clarisse share a passionate and tragic romantic bond, driven by her desperation to save her son and his devotion to her. ### [Prasville](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_crystal_stopper_se/characters/prasville) _professional_ Clarisse interacts with Prasville as a desperate petitioner, seeking his influence to save her son from the guillotine. ### [Alexis Daubrecq](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_crystal_stopper_se/characters/alexis_daubrecq) _psychological_ Daubrecq manipulates and torments Clarisse, using her love for her son as leverage to control her actions. ## In the story ### [The Home Life of Alexis Daubrecq](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_crystal_stopper_se/chapters/iii-the-home-life-of-alexis-daubrecq) The mysterious woman who attempts to stab Daubrecq and is also searching for the crystal stopper; she recognizes Lupin at the theater. ### [V: The Twenty-Seven](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_crystal_stopper_se/chapters/v-the-twenty-seven) Reveals her husband's tragic involvement with the list of the Twenty-Seven and her quest for revenge against Daubrecq. Attempts suicide after her son Jacques is kidnapped. ### [VI: The Death-Sentence](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_crystal_stopper_se/chapters/vi-the-death-sentence) Referenced as having attempted suicide by poison; Lupin uses her condition to pressure Daubrecq into releasing her son. ### [VII: The Profile of Napoleon](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_crystal_stopper_se/chapters/vii-the-profile-of-napoleon) Brings M. Nicole to Prasville and vouches for his assistance. ### [IX: In the Dark](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_crystal_stopper_se/chapters/ix-in-the-dark) Tends to Lupin; wounded in the shoulder at Mortepierre; reveals Gilbert's appeal was rejected; considers revealing her identity as Gilbert's mother. ### [X: Extra-Dry?](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_crystal_stopper_se/chapters/x-extra-dry) Enters Daubrecq's hotel room to search for the crystal stopper and is confronted by him. ### [The Cross of Lorraine](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_crystal_stopper_se/chapters/xi-the-cross-of-lorraine) Clarisse assists Lupin in moving Daubrecq, expresses anxiety about reaching Paris in time, and later sleeps from exhaustion while Lupin manages the plan. ### [XII: The Scaffold](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_crystal_stopper_se/chapters/xii-the-scaffold) Overwhelmed by grief, she collapses after reading the evening paper and is drugged by Lupin to sleep through the execution. ### [The Last Battle](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_crystal_stopper_se/chapters/xiii-the-last-battle) Lupin recalls his kiss with her on the fishing-smack and her subsequent avoidance of him; she is saved from death by the delayed execution. ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_crystal_stopper_se/characters/clarisse_mergy - Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_crystal_stopper_se - All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_crystal_stopper_se/characters