# Dr. Fall — The Secret House character guide

> Dr. Fall in The Secret House by Edgar Wallace.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Doctor Fall, the pleasant Doctor Fall

**First appearance:** 0000-i

## Snapshot

The pleasant doctor who keeps the Secret House's cloistered master under his care, doubling as secretary to a man no visitor is ever permitted to see.

## Who they are

Dr. Fall occupies a position of unnerving trust at the Secret House, serving simultaneously as physician and secretary to the reclusive Mr. Moole. His agreeable bedside manner sits uneasily beside the electrified gates, the steel-bead curtain, and a power plant big enough to run a railway. When T. B. Smith calls in daylight with detectives posted at the gate, it is Fall's smooth deflections that make the reader wonder whether the doctor is gatekeeper, jailer, or something stranger still.

## Relationships

### [Count Poltavo](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_secret_house_se/characters/count_poltavo)

_professional_

Count Poltavo and Dr. Fall collaborate in a sinister scheme, with Fall serving as Poltavo's scientific accomplice.

### [T. B. Smith](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_secret_house_se/characters/t_b_smith)

_rivalry_

Dr. Fall and T. B. Smith are adversaries, with Smith pursuing Fall for his role in criminal experiments.

### [Mr. Gregory Farrington](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_secret_house_se/characters/mr_gregory_farrington)

_professional_

Dr. Fall and Mr. Farrington are co-conspirators in a nefarious plot, bound by mutual self-interest.

### [Count Poltavo](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_secret_house_se/characters/count_poltavo)

_professional_

Count Poltavo and Dr. Fall collaborate in a sinister scheme, with Fall serving as Poltavo's scientific accomplice.

### [T. B. Smith](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_secret_house_se/characters/t_b_smith)

_rivalry_

Dr. Fall and T. B. Smith are adversaries, with Smith pursuing Fall for his role in criminal experiments.

### [Count Poltavo](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_secret_house_se/characters/count_poltavo)

_professional_

Count Poltavo and Dr. Fall collaborate in a sinister scheme, with Fall serving as Poltavo's scientific accomplice.

### [Mr. Gregory Farrington](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_secret_house_se/characters/mr_gregory_farrington)

_professional_

Dr. Fall and Mr. Farrington are co-conspirators in a nefarious plot, bound by mutual self-interest.

### [Mr. Gregory Farrington](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_secret_house_se/characters/mr_gregory_farrington)

_professional_

Dr. Fall and Mr. Farrington are co-conspirators in a nefarious plot, bound by mutual self-interest.

### [T. B. Smith](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_secret_house_se/characters/t_b_smith)

_rivalry_

Dr. Fall and T. B. Smith are adversaries, with Smith pursuing Fall for his role in criminal experiments.

## In the story

### [XI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_secret_house_se/chapters/xi)

Admits Poltavo to the Secret House, traps him in the lift, and later confronts him about the incriminating message.

### [XII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_secret_house_se/chapters/xii)

Confronts Smith after the intrusion, shows him the same sickroom, and demonstrates a surveillance device in his bedroom.

### [XIV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_secret_house_se/chapters/xiv)

Mentioned as someone Poltavo might admit his fright to, but does not appear directly.

### [XVIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_secret_house_se/chapters/xviii)

Mentioned as having written to Poltavo about Lady Constance's welfare.

### [XIX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_secret_house_se/chapters/xix)

Reports Poltavo's betrayal to Farrington, monitors Poltavo's movements via the signal tower, and accompanies Farrington to the basement to prepare for T. B. Smith's arrival.

### [The Last Hand](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_secret_house_se/chapters/xx)

Assists Farrington in the torture; uses a sprayed wire to shock T. B.; operates the electric chair.

### [XXI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_secret_house_se/chapters/xxi)

Handcuffed and arrested by Ela after Farrington's death.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_secret_house_se/characters/dr_fall
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_secret_house_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_secret_house_se/characters