# Madame Astaing — The Eight Strokes of the Clock character guide

> Madame Astaing in The Eight Strokes of the Clock by Maurice Leblanc.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Madame d’Ormeval

**First appearance:** 0006-v-th-r-se-and-germaine

## Snapshot

A watchful wife whose composed grace and too-prominent chin betray a private sorrow, she becomes the still center of Rénine's suspicions at the seaside casino.

## Who they are

Madame d'Ormeval — Thérèse to her husband — moves through the Hôtel Hauville as one half of a couple everyone calls perfectly happy, writing letters while Jacques reads his papers in a rented cabin by the cliff. Yet her unsmiling profile carries an expression of sadness and suffering, and her small, careful exchanges with her husband draw the attention of two strangers who have come looking for a wife in danger. Whether she is victim or something stranger, her quiet composure is the puzzle the early investigation turns on.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_eight_strokes_of_the_clock_se/characters/madame_astaing
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_eight_strokes_of_the_clock_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_eight_strokes_of_the_clock_se/characters