Legat

Hugh Alexander Legat is the 28-year-old Third Secretary in His Majesty’s Diplomatic Service. At the novel’s opening, he is in a period of personal stagnation. Though his career is considered very promising, he is dissatisfied in his junior position and craves wider recognition. His discontent is exacerbated by Cleverly, his superior, who sees Legat’s ambition and puts obstacles in his way whenever possible by assigning him demeaning tasks or trying to keep him from the centers of political action. When Chamberlain shows small marks of trust or favor, Legat is deeply gratified and more content than at any other time before the novel’s end. He is serious, hardworking, and old-fashioned. He has an underlying dedication to his family manifest in his melancholy memories of his father and his protectiveness of his children, John and Diana. He is a private man, rejecting friendly overtures from...