Character guide

Rosamond Frankland

major

Also known as Rosamond, Little Rosamond, Rosamond Treverton

Rosamond Frankland returns to the Cornish house she left at five, now mistress of it, with a blind husband she adores and a curiosity that will not be quieted. A dying nurse's whispered warning — keep out of the Myrtle Room — turns her homecoming into an investigation, and her warm, persistent nature makes her the engine of the whole story. She is the reader's way in: hopeful, stubborn, and certain the truth is owed to her.

Sarah Leeson

major

Also known as Sarah, Leeson

Sarah Leeson stood at her mistress's deathbed and came away with a secret she was never meant to carry, a letter still hidden in her own hands. Fearing and failing is the whole history of her life, as she herself admits, and the guilt has made her strange enough that other servants call her stranger than ever in her ways. Her dread of being found out is the buried fuse beneath Rosamond's bright homecoming.

Uncle Joseph

supporting

Also known as Joseph, little Joseph, Uncle Joseph gayly

Uncle Joseph is the one person Sarah trusts with the truth, a white-haired man whose little son died in her arms long ago and who now offers to bear the risk of telling what she cannot. He curses Porthgenna Tower as a dungeon-house of the devil while still scheming to get her the one thing she wants. His loyalty gives Sarah's long penance a human face and a companion on the road.

Leonard Frankland

major

Also known as Lenny, young Frankland, Poor young Frankland

Leonard Frankland cannot see Porthgenna Tower, but he can hear the urgency in Rosamond's voice when she repeats the nurse's whispered words, and he does not dismiss them as a dream. His blindness makes him dependent on others' descriptions of the house, which sharpens the mystery rather than softening it. He is the steady, affectionate counterweight to Rosamond's restless need to know.

Mrs. Jazeph

supporting

Also known as III Mrs. Jazeph, Jazeph

Mrs. Jazeph keeps her veil down and her voice carefully restrained, and Dr. Orridge notices at once that she seems to be hiding something. She asks too many questions about Porthgenna for a stranger, then whispers her warning into Rosamond's ear and vanishes from the household. Her abrupt arrival and stranger departure are the first crack in the quiet surface of the Franklands' new life.

Andrew Treverton

supporting

Also known as Andrew, Mr. Treverton, Mr. Andrew Treverton

Andrew Treverton lives shut away in London with only his servant for company, a man whose wealth and grudges have outlasted his willingness to be seen. He is the family's uncomfortable remainder — the relative no one quite knows what to do with, and whose history with Porthgenna is not as settled as it looks. His isolation gives the novel a second, darker household to measure the Franklands' happiness against.

Mr. Orridge

supporting

Also known as young Mr. Orridge, the inexperienced Mr. Orridge

Orridge has just bought the West Winston practice and is still learning the neighborhood's tangled loyalties when a lady is taken ill at the Tiger's Head and her hired nurse collapses. Earnest, slightly bumbling, and quick to consult others, he turns to the motherly Mrs. Norbury for help and finds himself the reluctant keeper of confidences he never sought. His ordinary professional rounds become the doorway through which the novel's buried secret first reaches the light.

Mr. Munder

supporting

Also known as IV, IV Mr. Munder

Munder presides over the shuttered house with the fussy authority of a man who mistakes obstruction for competence, sparring with the nervous housekeeper Mrs. Pentreath over who must escort visitors through the forbidden rooms. Trapped by his own insistence on controlling the tour, he is forced to lead the way he meant to block. His petty tyranny and wounded vanity make him the perfect gatekeeper for a house determined to keep its past buried.

Shrowl

supporting

Also known as Mr. Shrowl

Shrowl tends the oven, bakes the bread, and digs the garden for a miserly master who tears up a doctor's plea and tells him to light the fire with it. Instead he pockets the pieces, studies them in private, and decides a five-pound note might be had by obliging the man who wants a plan of Porthgenna Tower. Patient, sly, and entirely self-interested, he turns household drudgery into a small trade in other people's longings.

Mr. Phippen

minor

Also known as Phippen

A lawyer involved in the sale of Porthgenna Tower and the Treverton family affairs.

Mrs. Norbury

supporting

Also known as the outspoken Mrs. Norbury

Mrs. Norbury speaks the plainest English and means every kind word of it, opening her house and her sympathy to a stranger delivered of a child at the Tiger's Head. When Dr. Orridge needs a nurse, she summons her own housekeeper, Mrs. Jazeph, and sets in motion a chain of events she cannot foresee. Frank, warm, and utterly without guile, she is the honest neighbor whose simple helpfulness lets the novel's buried dread walk in through the front door.

Reverend Doctor Chennery

minor

Also known as Doctor Chennery, Chennery

A clergyman and relative of the Franklands who helps with family matters.

Mrs. Treverton

supporting

Also known as the late Mrs. Treverton

Lying in the great curtained bed with the sea thundering beyond the window, Mrs. Treverton calls not for the nurse but for Sarah Leeson, and speaks with a strength that shames her maid's trembling hesitation. Even in her last hour she commands the room, demanding light and exacting a promise whose weight will shadow everyone who comes after. Her deathbed is the still point from which the entire mystery of the novel quietly unfolds.

Betsey

minor

Also known as Obedient Betsey

A young servant at Porthgenna Tower who assists Rosamond.

Mrs. Pentreath

minor

The housekeeper at Porthgenna Tower who knows old secrets.

Captain Treverton

minor

Also known as The Captain, the late Captain Treverton

Rosamond's deceased father, a sea captain whose death set events in motion.

Miss Sturch

minor

Also known as Dear Miss Sturch, dear Miss Sturch

A friend of the Franklands who provides companionship to Rosamond.

Mr. Nixon

minor

A lawyer consulted by the Franklands regarding the secret.

Robert Chennery

minor

Also known as Master Robert Chennery, Master Robert, Robert

Doctor Chennery's son, a young man who assists Leonard.

Miss Mowlem

minor

The postmistress in the village near Porthgenna Tower.

Mr. Buschmann

minor

Also known as Buschmann

A German musician and friend of Uncle Joseph.

Jacob

minor

A servant at Porthgenna Tower.

Miss Amelia Chennery

minor

Also known as Miss Amelia, Amelia, dear Amelia

Doctor Chennery's daughter and a friend of the Franklands.

Hugh Polwheal

minor

Also known as Polwheal, miner Polwheal

A local miner who helps Rosamond with her search at Porthgenna.

Miss Louisa Chennery

minor

Also known as Miss Louisa, Louisa

Another daughter of Doctor Chennery.

Timon

minor

Andrew Treverton's nickname for himself, reflecting his misanthropic nature.

John Arthur Treverton

minor

Also known as Arthur

Andrew Treverton's deceased brother and Rosamond's uncle.

Bob

minor

Also known as the invisible Bob, Master Bob

A young servant boy at Andrew Treverton's London house.

Uncle Max

minor

Also known as Max

Uncle Joseph's friend, a fellow musician.

Thomas Horlock

minor

Also known as Thomas, Mr. Horlock

A lawyer involved in the Treverton family estate.

Agatha Buschmann

minor

Also known as Agatha

Mr. Buschmann's daughter, a young woman with a tragic past.

Mrs. Mowlem

minor

The mother of Miss Mowlem, who keeps the local shop.