Mrs. Bedonebyasyoudid

Mrs. Bedonebyasyoudid is the novel's most unsettling authority: her name is her law, and she applies it without sentiment, giving sweet things to good children and unpleasant ones to the naughty, always in precise proportion to what they deserve. She reads the police cases in the Waterproof Gazette every morning, which is how Tom's misdeeds come to her attention. Her severity is the counterweight to Tom's charm — she insists that being likable is not the same as being good, and that the universe keeps accounts whether or not anyone enjoys the arithmetic.