# Frank Burton — The Three Impostors character guide

> Frank Burton in The Three Impostors by Arthur Machen.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Francis, Burton

**First appearance:** 0004-adventure-of-the-missing-brother

## Snapshot

A young man drawn into the hunt for a missing brother, trading descriptions of a pale spectacled stranger with the amateur detectives.

## Who they are

Frank Burton moves through the narrative as both witness and participant, comparing notes with Dyson on the nervous young man in large spectacles who seems to be everywhere and nowhere. His account of the man tallies exactly with what others have seen, tightening the web of coincidence around a single elusive figure. He matters because his testimony links the scattered stories — the governess's brother, the dealer's quarry, the conspirators' prey — into one pattern the reader can begin to trace.

## In the story

### [Novel of the Iron Maid](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_three_impostors_se/chapters/novel-of-the-iron-maid)

Narrator of the embedded story; recounts his encounter with Mr. Mathias and the fatal accident with the Iron Maid.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_three_impostors_se/characters/frank_burton
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_three_impostors_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_three_impostors_se/characters