Character guide

Maud Ruthyn

major

Also known as Miss Maud, Maud, little Maud, dear Maud, Miss Ruthyn, Maud Aylmer Ruthyn, Maud—I, Maud—you, Cousin Maud, Dearest Maud, Mademoiselle Maud

A sheltered heiress who narrates her own slow descent into her uncle's shadowed world, torn between family duty and creeping dread.

Uncle Silas

major

Also known as Silas, Mr. Ruthyn, Mr. Silas Ruthyn, Silas Ruthyn, Silas Aylmer Ruthyn, Monsieur Ruthyn, Uncle Silas Meet Cousin Monica

A ruined aesthete and suspected murderer who receives his orphaned niece at Bartram-Haugh with exquisite manners and a will that leaves her utterly in his power.

Madame de la Rougierre

major

Also known as Madame, Madame de la Rougepot, old Madame, Poor Madame, de la Rougierre, Mademoiselle, Mademoiselle Blassemare, Mademoiselle de Blassemare

A coarse, watchful French governess whose obsequious charm and prying habits mark her as something far more dangerous than a mere tutor.

Lady Knollys

major

Also known as Cousin Monica, Monica, Cousin Monica Knollys, Knollys, Monica Knollys, old Monica Knollys, Aunt Monica, IX Monica Knollys, X Lady Knollys, XI Lady Knollys, miladi Knollys, Miss Knollys

Maud's blunt, warm-hearted cousin, whose gossipy candor and fierce loyalty make her the one voice daring to speak plainly against Silas.

Dudley Ruthyn

major

Also known as Dud, Mr. Ruthyn, Dudley, Mr. Dudley Ruthyn, Dudley Ruthyn, Ruthyn, Mr. Dudley R. Ruthyn, Master Dudley, Mr. Dudley

Silas's brutish, thick-booted son, whose swaggering insolence and predatory interest in Maud make every encounter feel like a threat.

Doctor Bryerly

supporting

Also known as Bryerly, Doctor, Dr. Bryerly, a Doctor Bryerly, II Doctor Bryerly, XII Doctor Bryerly, a Mr. Bryerly, Mr. Bryerly, this Mr. Bryerly, Hans E. Bryerly, Doctor Bryerly Doctor Bryerly

A sharp-eyed Swedenborgian physician whose probing questions about Maud's comfort at Bartram-Haugh betray suspicions he will not quite voice.

Milly Ruthyn

supporting

Also known as Milicent, Milly, Poor Milly, poor Milly, wicked Milly, Miss Milly, So Milly, Miss Ruthyn, odious Milly, XV Milly, Miss Millicent, Cousin Milly, Millicent, Meess Millicent, Poor Milly's

Milly is Maud's cousin and only companion at the gloomy Bartram-Haugh estate, a girl whose loud laugh and blunt talk constantly collide with her father's nerve-wracked fastidiousness. Starved for kindness and terrified of being sent away, she clings to Maud with a gratitude so fierce it turns to tears and self-reproach over the smallest quarrel. Her raw, unguarded loyalty gives the novel its warmest counterweight to Silas's cold household, and her fear of her father quietly teaches Maud what fear in that house really means.

Mary Quince

supporting

Also known as Mary, honest Mary Quince, Quince, Good Mary Quince, honest Mary, Polly, poor Quince, good old Mary Quince, Honest Mary, honest Quince, Mary Queence

Mary Quince has served Maud since childhood and follows her into her uncle's guardianship, hovering at the edges of scenes with news, doubts, and her trademark complaints about the household's stinginess. Superstitious and easily frightened, she is nonetheless the one constant body between Maud and the strange servants and stranger silences of Bartram-Haugh. Her fretful loyalty makes her both comic relief and a barometer of danger, registering each new wrong before Maud herself will admit it.

Austin Ruthyn

supporting

Also known as Austin, poor Austin, the late Mr. Austin Ruthyn of Knowl, Mr. Ruthyn, The late Mr. Ruthyn, Knowl, poor dear Austin, dear Knowl, Poor dear Austin, Mr. Austin Ruthyn, beloved old Knowl, papa, Papa

Austin Ruthyn of Knowl is a widower who has raised Maud in studious seclusion, a man of strict principles and old grievances whose will places his daughter under his brother Silas's care. His chilly, principled reserve hides a deep tenderness for Maud, and his decision to trust Silas despite the family's dark history becomes the hinge on which the plot turns. His death in the novel's opening movement leaves Maud exposed, and his memory haunts every judgment she must make about the man he chose to protect her.

Tom Brice

supporting

Also known as Tom, Brice

Tom Brice moves through the Bartram-Haugh household as one of its working men, caught between the orders of his masters and the ordinary decency he shows toward Maud. His position makes him useful and vulnerable at once, since any sympathy he displays risks being reported to the very people who employ him. In the novel's middle stretch he becomes one of the few figures Maud can half-trust, and his wavering between duty and conscience quietly foreshadows how dangerous the household's secrets really are.

Mrs. Rusk

supporting

Also known as good old Mrs. Rusk, honest Mrs. Rusk, good Mrs. Rusk, Good Mrs. Rusk, XIX Au Revoir Mrs. Rusk, Rusk, Mrs. Rusk

Mrs. Rusk runs the household at Knowl with a plainspoken competence and a fierce, almost maternal attachment to Maud, grumbling freely about stingy allowances and dubious arrangements. She distrusts Silas and his people from the start, and her sharp tongue gives voice to suspicions that Maud is too loyal or too innocent to speak aloud. When Maud is sent away to Bartram-Haugh, Mrs. Rusk's absence becomes a palpable loss, and her warnings linger as one of the story's earliest signals that all is not well.

Captain Oakley

supporting

Also known as The charming Captain, Oakley, the Captain

Captain Oakley arrives at Bartram-Haugh as a visitor from the glittering world Maud has only read about, all soft hair, easy compliments, and worldly talk that flatters her inexperience. His attentions stir Milly's romantic hopes and Maud's first flutter of admiration, but a cruel curl of the lip and a coldness in the eye suggest the profligate beneath the polish. He matters less as a suitor than as a lesson: the first man Maud must learn to read, and the first proof that charm in this novel is rarely what it seems.

Maggie Hawkes

supporting

Also known as Lady Margaret, Meg, Meg Hawkes, Hawkes, Beauty—Meg Hawkes, old Hawkes

Meg Hawkes belongs to the rough servant clan that Uncle Silas shelters on his estate, a family Maud finds rude to the point of abuse. Her father Dickon dotes on her in his savage way, and that bond makes her both a witness to and a participant in the grim economy of Bartram-Haugh. Her divided position—insider among the servants, outsider to the gentry—quietly shapes the atmosphere of menace that closes around Maud.

Mr. Charke

supporting

Also known as wretched Mr. Charke, that Mr. Charke, this wretched Mr. Charke, Charke, poor Mr. Charke

Charke was the kind of guest Bartram-Haugh should never have admitted—a gambler whose I.O.U.s against Silas Ruthyn became the talk of London sporting circles. His locked-room suicide, and the two letters published afterward by a blackmailer, turned private shame into public ruin for the Ruthyn name. Though dead before the novel opens, he haunts the plot as the original stain on Silas's reputation and the reason Maud's inheritance is so carefully watched.

Dickon Hawkes

supporting

Also known as Dirty old Hawkes, Hawkes, Dickon, Pegtop Dickon, Pegtop, old Pegtop, Dickon Hawkes—Pegtop, Old Pegtop

Hawkes serves as Silas's enforcer on the estate, barring Maud and Milly from parts of the grounds and answering any complaint with insolence. Silas defends him as a thoroughly moral man, a claim that reveals more about the master than the servant. His peg leg, his savagery, and his unsettling devotion to his daughter make him the most physical threat in Maud's new world.

Lord Ilbury

supporting

Also known as Ilbury

Ilbury moves in the same genteel circles as Lady Knollys and represents, for Maud, the possibility of a life untouched by her uncle's shadow. His attentions are honorable and unhurried, standing in stark contrast to the predatory schemes gathering around her inheritance. He matters because he keeps alive the reader's sense that Maud might yet be rescued by ordinary decency—if the ordinary world can reach her in time.

Old Lucy Wyat

supporting

Also known as old Wyat, Wyat, Old Wyat, sour old Wyat, Neither old Wyat, Dame Wyat, old Wyat—she

Wyat is the gaunt, unfriendly presence who summons Maud to her uncle's rooms and shuts the door behind her with grim satisfaction. Her bitterness seems personal, rooted in some old injury connected to the household, and her loyalty to Silas is laced with something closer to fear than devotion. As keeper of the threshold between Maud and her guardian, she embodies the closed, watchful atmosphere of Bartram-Haugh.

Doctor Jolks

minor

Also known as Jolks, Mrs. Jolks, Good Mrs. Jolks, young Jolks

A local doctor and his family who attend to the Bartram household.

Mr. Carysbroke

minor

Also known as Carysbroke, This Mr. Carysbroke, Lady Mary, Mary, Lady Mary Carysbroke, this Lady Mary

A gentleman with a romantic history involving Lady Mary.

Branston

minor

Also known as fat Branston, Mr. Branston

A local tradesman or farmer who appears in the narrative.

Sarah Matilda

minor

Also known as XVI Sarah Matilda, Mrs. Sarah Matilda

A mysterious woman whose identity is revealed later in the story.

L'Amour

minor

Also known as old L'Amour, Old L'Amour

A Frenchman or servant with a minor role at Bartram-Haugh.

Charles Oakley

minor

Also known as Charlie, Charles, Charles Oakley, Poor Charlie

Captain Oakley's younger brother, who is infatuated with Maud.

Mr. Danvers

minor

Also known as Danvers

A lawyer involved in the Ruthyn family's legal affairs.

Abel Grimston

minor

Also known as Grimston, Mr. Grimston

A local man who assists in the search for Mr. Charke's remains.

Old Crowle

minor

Also known as Mr. Crowle, Crowle

A sinister figure associated with the darker side of Bartram-Haugh.

Doctor Clay

minor

Also known as Dr. Clay, good Dr. Clay

A physician consulted during the story's medical emergencies.

Anne Wixted

minor

Also known as Anne, Even Anne Wixted

A servant at Knowl who is briefly allied with Madame de la Rougierre.

Mr. Sleigh

minor

Also known as Sleigh, Archer, Archer and Sleigh

A lawyer or agent involved in the Ruthyn estate matters.

Thomas Swain

minor

Also known as Tom

A servant or local man who appears in the Bartram household.

Giblets

minor

Also known as old Giblets, poor Giblets, little Giblets

A pet or animal mentioned in the household.

Dykes

minor

A local man who assists in the search for Mr. Charke.

Catherine Jones

minor

Also known as Catherine

A servant or local woman mentioned in passing.

Winny

minor

A servant at Bartram-Haugh who assists in the household.

Bill

minor

A minor servant or local figure.

Monnie

minor

Also known as poor Monnie

A minor character, possibly a servant or local.

Lord Lollipop

minor

Also known as Lollipop, Lolly

A humorous or satirical name used in conversation.

Mother Hubbard

minor

A nursery-rhyme reference used as a nickname.

Cormoran

minor

A name mentioned in a story or allusion.

Zamiel

minor

A name associated with a legend or story within the book.

Old Chaulieu

minor

Also known as Chaulieu

A Frenchman mentioned in connection with Madame de la Rougierre.

Feltram

minor

A name mentioned in a literary or historical allusion.

James Jolliter

minor

Also known as James, Jim Jolliter

A minor servant or local figure.

Georgina Fanshawe

minor

A name mentioned in passing as an acquaintance.

Old Giles

minor

Also known as Giles

A servant at Knowl or Bartram-Haugh.

Boots

minor

A servant or nickname for a hotel employee.