An unnamed, weary traveler who has spent the past five months searching for his lost love in New York City. His worn baggage and dusty hat reflect the physical and emotional toll of his quest through the transient, sprawling urban environment. He acts as a representative figure for the many anonymous wanderers trying to maintain hope while moving through the isolating boarding houses of the city.

A young woman who left her unnamed hometown for New York City with aspirations of becoming a professional singer. She is described as a slender, fair girl with reddish-gold hair and a distinctive dark mole near her left eyebrow. Her signature scent is mignonette perfume, a sweet floral odor that strongly triggers the protagonist's memories of her.

The housekeeper and proprietor of a crumbling red mansion turned boarding house on the Lower West Side. She runs her establishment strictly as a commercial enterprise, renting dilapidated rooms to a constantly shifting population of transient theater workers and immigrants. Her colloquial speech and shrewd business tactics reflect an existence focused entirely on making a living in a harsh urban economy.

A fellow housekeeper on the Lower West Side who converses with Mrs. Purdy about the daily realities of managing transient lodgers. Her regional dialect marks her as an Irish immigrant, representing the diverse, working-class population that makes up the neighborhood's workforce.