Alfred

Latimer's older brother Alfred is his opposite. Latimer describes him as "a handsome, self-confi- dent man of 6 and 20 a thorough contrast to my fragile, nervous, ineffectual self." Alfred is their father's favorite, as he embodies all that the father desires in a son. When Latimer is introduced to Bertha as a probable future wife to Alfred, his natural dislike of his brother turns to envious hatred. Right before he is to be married to Bertha, Alfred dies from falling off a horse, leaving Latimer free to marry Bertha.

Mrs. Archer

Mrs. Archer is the new servant Bertha hires, a woman whose arrival Latimer dreads: "I had a vague dread that I should find her mixed up with the dreary drama of my life that some new sickening vision would reveal her to me as an evil genius." Latimer describes her as "a tall, wiry, dark-eyed woman, this Mrs...