Summer

Mr. Royall, whose first name is never made known, rescued Charity from an impoverished existence on the Mountain by adopting her when she was 5 years old. His wife died several years later; he is lonely, far more educated than most of the other residents of his hometown of North Dormer, and sometimes drinks to excess. He humiliates Charity publicly when he happens upon her when she is with Lucius Harney visiting the city of Nettleton. Highly inebriated and in the company of questionable companions, he responds to Charity’s instinctive efforts to protect him by bringing him home by referring to her as a “bare-headed whore” (78). Although his first relationship with Charity was that of a father to a daughter, he lusts after her as she becomes a young woman. This adds an unsavory, somewhat incestuous dimension to his attraction.

However, Lawyer Royall also behaves honorably on occasion. Specifically, he adopts Charity at the request of her putative father, whom Royall had successfully had convicted of murder. When he hears that neighborhood gossips have spread news of Charity’s having left Harney’s house after a late-evening visit, his first thought is to protect her by using his adversarial skills in order to pressure the young man to marry her. Similarly, he confronts Harney personally when he becomes aware that the young couple has been meeting for afternoon trysts at an abandoned house and challenges the young man regarding his intentions toward Charity. Finally, although Charity has summarily rejected his proposal of marriage on two prior occasions, he protects her by marrying her while aware that she is pregnant with Harney’s child. 

Lucius Harney is a handsome, young New York City architect, clearly a child of privilege, who visits North Dormer in order to spend time studying architecturally significant old houses while residing with an elderly cousin, Miss Hatchard. Charity is intrigued by him from the start.

While it does not appear that Harney’s intentions toward Charity are premeditatedly malevolent, he creates great disruption in the young woman’s life. She serves as his guide and driver by escorting him around the area to view old houses in Royall’s horse and buggy; he eventually seduces Charity and impregnates her. Although he seems to have some feelings of attraction to Charity, he ultimately returns to the familiarity of his elite social circle and marries debutante Annabelle Balch, to whom he has been engaged from the outset. Young and lacking in the perspective that might have enabled him to realize the potentially catastrophic repercussions that Charity might suffer as a result of their relationship, Harney is somewhat narcissistic but not truly evil. It is interesting to note, however, that his name is a derivative of “Lucifer,” a commonly used name for the devil.

The elderly spinster, Miss Hatchard, is the great-niece of the founder of North Dormer’s library. Protected from harsh reality by inherited wealth and freedom from family responsibilities, she cannot or will not comprehend Charity when the young woman seeks advice from her about Lawyer Royall’s attempts at seduction. As the overseer of the library, Miss Hatchard grants Charity a part-time job, at Royall’s request; however, she nearly fires the young woman when she believes that the library is not being tended properly. Harney convinces his relative to maintain Charity as an employee, although it may have been Harney who gave Miss Hatchard cause for concern about the manner in which Charity was tending to the dilapidated building and book collection. It is appropriate that Miss Hatchard reigns over the town’s annual Old Home Week celebration, as both she and the occasion honor the past rather than the future. 

Ally is a simple, decent young woman who represents the best of small-town life. Content to earn a fairly meager income as an independent seamstress, Ally is a loyal friend to Charity, though she unintentionally wounds Charity by conveying the news that Harney is engaged to Annabelle Balch. Ally is the sister of Julia Hawes, who is considered to be a fallen woman by the town gossips.

Julia committed the error of having an affair without benefit of marriage and becoming pregnant. She undergoes an abortion at the hands of an unscrupulous Dr. Merkle and nearly dies in the process. Subsequently, she relocates to the city of Nettleton and supports herself as a prostitute.