An adult male who meets an eight-year-old girl while walking in the country. Relying heavily on arithmetic, facts, and logical reasoning, he attempts to establish how many siblings live in her family. He represents a mature, rational perspective that views mortality as a definitive end, contrasting sharply with the imaginative worldview of childhood.

A young girl who lives in a churchyard cottage with her mother. She firmly believes she is one of seven siblings, maintaining a deep, intuitive connection to her family that ignores adult concepts of mortality. She often visits the nearby graves of her deceased brother and sister to knit, sew, sing, and eat her supper, viewing them as still present in her daily life.

One of the little girl's older sisters. After suffering an illness where she lay moaning in bed, she is laid to rest in the churchyard. Despite her physical absence, her younger sister continues to spend time around her green grave, treating her as an active member of the family unit.

The little girl's brother. He used to run and slide in the winter snow and play alongside his living sister near Jane's grave. He later passes away and is buried side by side with Jane, where their youngest sister continues to visit them both.

The mother of the seven children. She resides in a cottage near the churchyard, providing a home just twelve steps away from the graves of Jane and John. She represents the surviving adult family structure for the youngest girl.