Charity Girl - Characters

Characters

• Viscount Ashley Desford is the main character of the novel. He is twenty-nine years old, independently wealthy, having inherited the fortune of his deceased aunt. He is an eligible bachelor.

• Earl of Wroxton is the father of Ashley Desford. He is very old-fashioned, but at the same time tolerant of his sons' individuality. He worries that Desford may marry Cherry Steane, a penniless girl whose father Wroxton particularly hated.

• Charity Steane is a young woman whose mother has died and whose father abandoned her in a private boarding school. When her school bill went unpaid for several months, the school's headmistress located an aunt who was willing to take Charity into her own home. Charity's new family does not, however, treat her as a full member, but more as a servant. When she attempts to run away to London, Charity incites Desford's gentlemanly insticts to rescue a helpless female. He takes her to the Silverdale home where she endears herself to the older Mrs. Silverdale. At the end of the novel, Charity agrees to marry the wealthy Mr. Nethercott.

• Henrietta Silverdale is a neighbor to Wroxton who lives with her hypochondriachal mother. At twenty-five, she already considers herself a waning object of romance though she has been wooed by many men and, at the beginning of the novel, she is being wooed by the wealthy Mr. Nethercott. At one point in the novel, Nethercott learns that Henrietta is well aware that her mother is not really sick. Nethercott suggests that perhaps Henrietta needs to be rescued from this situation, but she vehemently and angrily says she does not need rescuing.

• Lady Silverdale is the mother of Henrietta Silverdale. She is a hypochondriac and a widow who pretends to be more in love with her dead husband than she really is. She has two children though she prefers her son. Heyer writes, "although she might fairly be said to dote on Charles she had only tepid affection for Henrietta."

• Simon Carrington is the younger brother of Ashley Desford. He appears to be a minor, off-stage character until the last half of the novel at which point he catalyzes the engagement of the Viscount and Henrietta. Simon figures in the first chapter of the novel because Ashley's father worries that Simon is living recklessly. At the end of the novel, Simon proves to be a sensible and reliable young man who defends his brother against attempted blackmail.