Mrs. Letitia Drake is the younger sister of Alan Penvellyn and Jane's great-aunt.
Biography[]
Leticia Drake seems to have been very close to her brother Alan. As children, they would make up cockney rhymes to each other. She fondly remembers him forever tinkering with this or that. After Alan died a month after her husband, Letitia lived at Blackmoor Manor alone until 2004 when her nephew Hugh moved in with his daughter Jane and new wife Linda.
Due to some odd inheritance law, Linda has to stay at the manor for six months straight in order for Hugh to fully own it. If she leaves the manor at any point during that period of time, ownership of the Manor will pass on to Mrs. Drake instead. Leticia Drake loves plants and hates noise, especially noisy Americans. She forbids Nancy from playing radios and going outside lest she track mud in all over the house. She can usually be found in the Manor's conservatory, taking care of and occasionally talking to her beloved plants. Some of the plants were hybridized by her grandfather, John Penvellyn, who won an award for them in 1912.
She is more concerned with being a Penvellyn than a person according to her nephew, and is thrilled that Nigel Mookerjee is writing a book about her family. When Nancy voices concerns that Ethel Bossiny is trying to make Jane a part of some sort of secret society, Mrs. Drake thinks the very idea is ridiculous. She was the one who hired Ethel in the first place, solely because it has been traditional that the Bossinys tutor the Penvellyns.
She's not sure what to make of Linda's sudden odd behavior, but does what she can to help. She even hangs a charm meant to bestow good luck on Linda's bedroom door.
Trivia[]
- If Nancy hammers on her door in the middle of the night enough times, Mrs. Drake is scared awake so badly that Nancy is kicked off the Penvellyn property.