(Little) Belle Mitchell

She is the child of Belle's first marriage to Harry Mitchell. The novel does not say whether she kept her father's last name, but that seems likely. And although Horace still refers to her as Little Belle, his step-daughter is about 20 years old. While she never appears directly in Sanctuary, except as a voice on the far end of a telephone, she plays a major role in the story: it is her budding sexuality mated with her barely disguised disdain for Horace that drives him from Kinston to make his way home again to Jefferson - where he keeps a photo of her (and not his wife) beside the bed he sleeps in. She may not be as promiscuous as Horace imagines, but as a modern young woman she is clearly a threat to both his idea of femininity and his peace of mind.