Hervé Joncour

Hervé Joncour is the son of the mayor of Lavilledieu. He had begun a military career to please his father but was recruited at age twenty-four by Baldabiou to procure silkworm eggs for the local silk manufacturers. He is a passive, peaceful man. He has enough money to support himself and his wife, Hélène, in modest luxury. He travels four months out of the year trading for silkworm eggs and rests during the rest of it. He spends a lot of time designing gardens and parks for his lands. He and Hélène have no children at the start of the book but end up with three daughters.

Joncour is immediately attracted to the mistress of a Japanese silkworm egg trader, Hara Kei, on his first voyage to Japan. The attraction becomes an obsession that carries him three more times to Japan even when...