Samuel Matcher (The Pretext)

Samuel Matcher, Esq., of Armingham Towers, Wilts, is the father of Gwendolen Matcher and also only shortly mentioned in a paragraph in the London Times where the marriage between Guy Dawnish and Gwendolen Matcher is officially canceled (Lewis, 1968, p. 648). Esq. according to Hornby (2015, p. 521) is “a polite title written after a man’s name, especially on an official letter addressed to him” or “used as a title after the name of a male or female lawyer”. Given the fact that Gwendolen Matcher “is an heiress” (Lewis, 1968, p. 647) it could mean the latter.

Sources:

Hornby, A. S. (2015). Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Lewis, R. W. B. (1968). The Collected Short Stories of Edith Wharton. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons.