The Wisdom of Father Brown · Character

Mr. Glass

A prematurely bald lodger whose apparent absence from a locked room turns a domestic comedy into a puzzle of misread evidence.

supporting

Also known as Glass, the prematurely bald Mr. Glass

First appearance: the absence of mr glass

As a supporting figure in The Wisdom of Father Brown, Mr. Glass is not background color—the story leans on what they do once the chapter opens.

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Mr. Glass is the lodger whose non-appearance drives the mystery Father Brown brings to Dr. Hood's consulting rooms, a case tangled up with Maggie MacNab, young Todhunter and a household of sharp tempers. His bald head and his absence are the facts everyone builds theories on, and the criminologist's elaborate deductions depend entirely on taking them at face value. He matters because the story's joke and its moral both hinge on whether the great scientist or the little priest has really seen him.

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The fuller portrait of Mr. Glass sits in Reading Lens — open the free preview to keep reading with notes on the page.

See Mr. Glass in the absence of mr glass