Mrs Drassilis
The mother of Cynthia, Mrs Drassilis is the daughter of a provincial solicitor and widow of the Hon. Hugo Drassilis, younger brother of the Earl of Westbourne, who appears in The Little Nugget. Mrs Drassilis, on the death of her husband, was poorly treated by his family, who considered Hugo to have married beneath his class, and thus is forced to live on what for her are inadequate funds. This treatment, and the subsequent privations, spoil Mrs Drassilis' looks and her temper. When we meet her, she is a resident of London's Marlow Square, and is described as 'florid and overdressed'.
Her character is perhaps the root of her daughter's cool and dangerous outlook, and is certainly part of the reason Peter Burns becomes engaged to Cynthia, mainly out of sympathy.
Read more about this topic: P. G. Wodehouse Minor Characters