# The Spy in Black — Character guide

> Key figures in The Spy in Black by J. Storer Clouston.

- [Eileen Holland](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_spy_in_black_se/characters/eileen_holland.md): Eileen Holland arrives at the Craigies' as a governess whose passport was obtained by dubious influence, and Mrs. Craigie already suspects that something is a little wrong somewhere. When a telegram pulls her out of the 
- [Adolph Tiel](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_spy_in_black_se/characters/adolph_tiel.md): Tiel moves through the coastal parish as a minister preparing a sermon, while privately serving as a German agent with no patriotism and no morals. He jokes grimly that the secret service must sometimes creep about in th
- [Lieutenant von Belke](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_spy_in_black_se/characters/von_belke.md): Lieutenant von Belke arrives expecting to command a covert operation, only to find himself the prisoner of men he thought were his allies. His pride flares into sarcasm and fury, especially toward the lady he calls a dec
- [Robert Drummond](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_spy_in_black_se/characters/robert_drummond.md): Robert Drummond is the man behind the clerical collar, the officer who took over Adolph Tiel's journey after the real spy was arrested at Inverness. He admits he felt the same temptation to give the show away that Tiel d
- [Commander Blacklock](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_spy_in_black_se/characters/commander_blacklock.md): Commander Blacklock runs the trap from behind the pulpit, having taken over the identity of the murdered agent Tiel and recruited Miss Holland on the mail-boat crossing. He is by turns steely with his captive and almost 
- [Mr. Burnett](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_spy_in_black_se/characters/mr_burnett.md): Mr. Burnett is the clergyman whose identity and passport the conspirators intend to steal, and whose resemblance to the false chauffeur unsettles the household without quite alarming it. He offers scones and currant cake
- [Mr. Craigie](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_spy_in_black_se/characters/mr_craigie.md): Craigie belongs to the ordinary domestic world that the story's spy-catcher heroine has temporarily fled, and he becomes the measure of what she gave up and what she must now reclaim. His forgiveness matters less for wha
- [Captain Ashington](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_spy_in_black_se/characters/captain_ashington.md): Ashington is the story's most uncomfortable paradox: a decorated officer of the Grand Fleet who has been recruited into Tiel's spy ring through a mixture of sullen temper and a sense of grievance. His younger brother ser
- [Mr. Taylor](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_spy_in_black_se/characters/taylor.md): Taylor never appears in person, yet his name does decisive work: it is the false signature on the telegram that lures Burnett away from his papers and toward the cliffs. When Drummond denies all knowledge of any Taylor f
- [Commander Wiedermann](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_spy_in_black_se/characters/wiedermann.md): A German naval commander and colleague of von Belke.
- [Captain Phipps](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_spy_in_black_se/characters/captain_phipps.md): A British naval officer involved in the investigation.
- [Bob Blacklock](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_spy_in_black_se/characters/bob_blacklock.md): A younger relative of Commander Blacklock.
- [Lieutenant Topham](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_spy_in_black_se/characters/lieutenant_topham.md): A British naval lieutenant assisting in the operation.
- [Mrs. Craigie](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_spy_in_black_se/characters/mrs_craigie.md): Wife of Mr. Craigie, a local resident.
- [Mary](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_spy_in_black_se/characters/mary.md): A servant or local woman who interacts with characters.
- [Alexander Burnett](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_spy_in_black_se/characters/alexander_burnett.md): A clergyman whose identity is used by another character.

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