Frankford
The novel begins with Frankford's marriage to Anne. Frankford is a respectable man with honor. He loves his beautiful young wife, and he enjoys his friendship to other local hotshots. Unfortunately, his wife is unfaithful, and his servant Nick helps him to catch her. The second half of the novel deals with his response to his traitorous wife.
Anne
Anne is a local sweetheart, and she is describes as being very lovely. When Wendoll comes by to tell Frankford of the news with Francis and Charles, he seduces Anne. Anne is an easily persuaded person, but in the end she proves her resolve by starving herself to death as an honor killing.
Charles
Charles is a hunter whose friendship with Francis is simultaneously intimate and competitive. When they get into a fight about whose falcon hunts better, Charles loses his temper and kills Francis's servants. This displeases Francis who has him arrested. Charles is plagued by money problems in the wake of his arrest. As he depends on others, he is betrayed, until finally he trades his wife to Francis for a second chance in life.
Francis
A powerful man with a punishing sense of justice. When Charles murdered his friends in the heat of argument, Francis decided to hold it as a serious grudge against him. When Charles is exploited by dishonorable people in the community, Francis is glad about it. Then Francis meets Susan and falls in love. From then on out, he decides to do the best he can for the couple. Eventually, Charles offers Susan as a gift to Francis.
Susan
Susan is a lot like Anne. She is pushed around by men who move her like property, and in the end she is literally given as a gift to a new husband. She makes the best of her situation as part of her character, but the pushy men in her life make her to feel objectified.
Wendoll
The man who stole Anne from Frankford. Although Anne was coy, Wendoll managed to seduce her with his words, and in the end, Anne rebukes him, calling him a devil. But, that's also what Nick has been saying the entire time, distrusting Wendoll from the very first moment they were together in the Frankford house.
Nick
Nick is a servant in the Frankford house who seems like a nuisance at first, because of his highly critical opinion of Wendoll. But then Wendoll betrays them all and takes Anne to bed, and Nick catches them, although they never find out about it. He helps Frankford to catch them in the act.
