James Windibank

James McCarthy Windibank is a commercial traveller of calculating temperament, working as an agent for a London firm. He lives in the household of his stepdaughter, Miss Mary Sutherland, where he has grown accustomed to controlling her finances and her future. When she announces her intention to marry, Windibank recognizes a threat to her £100 annual allowance—income that would be lost to him upon her marriage. Rather than simply forbid the union, he devises an audacious scheme: he creates a fictional suitor named Hosmer Angel, complete with elaborate disguises and a typewritten correspondence designed to win her heart while keeping her emotionally entangled and uncertain of her lover's intentions. His plan includes staged meetings, theatrical declarations of love, and orchestrated drama intended to bind her so completely to this phantom that she will reject any real suitor for years. Windibank operates without moral compunction, viewing the deception as a clever stratagem rather than a cruel manipulation of his stepdaughter's trust and affection.