Inside the story
Meet Dr. Grimesby Roylott
Dr. Grimesby Roylott is the last heir of the decaying Stoke Moran estate and a former doctor who has returned from India in poverty. He is the violent stepfather of Helen Stoner, whose household is dominated by his murderous temper and sinister presence.
On the page
A towering, thick-set older man, so tall he must stoop in a doorway, with immense breadth of shoulder. A large face seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned deep yellow-brown by years of Indian sun and marked by every evil passion, with deep-set bile-shot eyes and a high, thin, fleshless nose like a bird of prey; balding with wisps of grizzled grey hair. Dressed as a dishevelled country squire: a black top hat, long black frock-coat and high gaiters, a hunting-crop in a huge sunburned hand.
