Who is Peter Brench from Short Story Masterpieces and what is their importance?

Peter Brench appears in the story, Tree of Knowledge. He has spent his whole life harboring a deep secret....... the fact that he is in love with his closest friend's wife. Brench is not presented as a bad person, and he would never think of taking Mrs. Mallow away from her husband. Instead, he remains a faithful and loyal friend to the family. In the end, however, he has to admit that his secret was, in part, kept because he wanted to maintain the fantasy that Mrs. Mallow did not know. In doing so, he could pretend that he didn't know the woman loved her husband enough to pretend to like his work.