Chevalier Gubbins

Chevalier Gubbins is a Checquy Court member, a favorite of Myfanwy Thomas, and a conspicuously cheerful companion whose humor cannot shield him from the sudden violence of the reception attack. His death, delivered by the Gestalt brothers, turns the gathering’s polished civility into a scene of slaughter.

Identity and Character

Gubbins holds the title of Chevalier and is part of the Court. Myfanwy regards him as her favorite member, a personal fondness that gives their exchanges more warmth than the formal business around them. His manner is expansive and buoyant: on a freezing morning, he bounds into the limousine greeting Myfanwy with infectious good cheer, even as she wakes from a nap drooling on the armrest.

His physical flexibility is striking enough that Myfanwy has seen him fit himself into a suitcase and stay there for seven hours. The feat is recalled during their long drive to the Hatchery, where confinement leaves him with cabin fever despite the limousine’s relative spaciousness. The contrast between his unusual physical capacity and his inability to endure the journey patiently makes him a comic presence without reducing him to a mere joke.

Work with Myfanwy

Gubbins travels with Myfanwy to the Hatchery, a manifestation site, while Bishop Alrich and Sir Henry Wattleman travel separately by helicopter. Checquy policy prevents more than two Court members from being on the same aircraft; Myfanwy decides that paying for another helicopter would be extravagant after the day’s costly expenditure of money and staff. The division of travel reflects both the organization’s precautions and the practical calculations surrounding its operations.

The drive tests the travelers’ patience. Gubbins is so restless that, as Myfanwy puts it, he drives them both to the brink of insanity. Their good manners, acquired at the Estate under threat of a gun, and her affection for him keep the irritation from becoming an open quarrel. At the Hatchery, the two emerge into the snow with such enthusiasm that they surprise the Pawn waiting to greet them.

Place in the Court and Myfanwy’s Circle

At the reception, Gubbins moves easily among members of the Court and their guests. Before dinner, he joins Myfanwy, Shantay Petoskey, Sir Henry, and Robert Gestalt in a conversation that stays deliberately clear of the Grafter threat. That subject is reserved for the next day’s formal discussion, with an agenda and minutes; for the moment, the group maintains the strained politeness of cocktail conversation.

Gubbins breaks through that surface by raising Shantay’s adventure accompanying Myfanwy to a manifestation site. His comment brings the day’s work into the reception and prompts Sir Henry to ask where they went. Gubbins assures him their attendance was lawful under the Sororitas Pact, which permits their American counterparts to attend manifestations. The exchange shows his sociability, but also how quickly a casual remark can expose operational details in a gathering where the Court is trying to keep business carefully compartmentalized.

Death at the Reception

When the Gestalt brothers attack, Gubbins is caught in a coordinated assault. Teddy Gestalt grabs him by the lapels; Gubbins counters by locking onto Teddy’s wrist and elbow, twisting backward, and throwing him through the air. Alex catches his brother and redirects him, turning the brothers’ coordinated movements into a counterattack against the Chevalier. After Teddy distracts Gubbins, the others strike him in the stomach, leaving him crumpled and exposed.

The brothers then kill him with three simultaneous blows to the head. Bishop Alrich bursts into the fight through the crowd, bloodied and in torn clothing, but Gubbins is already dead. The abrupt end of the man who had animated Myfanwy’s journey and mingled so comfortably at the reception makes the attack’s betrayal immediate and personal: the Court’s convivial gathering has become a lethal ambush, and one of Myfanwy’s closest companions is among its first unmistakable casualties.