Mr. Binford

Lucius Binford - or as he's called in two of the three novels in which he is mentioned or appears, Mr. Binford - is the business and romantic partner of Reba Rivers, the madame of a Memphis brothel. In The Mansion he is referred to as a "pimp" (80). In The Reivers, the one novel he actually appears in, Lucius Priest says his "official" title is "landlord" (110). He is a little man, but there is something menancing about him; the first thing you notice about him, Lucius says, is "his eyes . . . because the first thing you found out was that he was already looking at you" (104). He dresses like a gentleman, but calls the prostitutes who work for him and Reba "bitches" while claiming to teach them "to act like ladies" (107). Lucius calls him "the prince and paragon" among "landlords," and lists as his virtues his incorruptibility and fidelity to Reba, as his "sole and only vice" compulsively betting on horse races with Reba's money (111). Readers of the earlier novel Sanctuary were introduced to him, posthumously, through Reba's grief and nostalgia. In this novel she asks herself, "Why the hell cant I do without him?" (110).