Caroline Beaufort

Daughter of the ruined merchant Beaufort, possessed of an uncommon mind and courage; she tended her dying father with tenderness, supporting them both through plain work and plaiting straw after their funds ran out, and was found weeping at his coffin by Alphonse Frankenstein, to whose care she committed herself. She married Alphonse two years after he brought her to Geneva, later traveling with him for her shaken health; benevolent toward the poor, she discovered the orphaned Elizabeth Lavenza in a cot near Lake Como and, with her husband's permission, took her in, presenting the girl to her son Victor as his promised gift ('tomorrow he shall have it').

Daughter of the ruined merchant Beaufort, she nursed her dying father and was later taken in and married by Alphonse Frankenstein, with whom she traveled for her health; benevolent toward the poor, she discovered the orphaned Elizabeth Lavenza near Lake Como and adopted her as a gift for her son Victor. She nursed Elizabeth through a dangerous bout of scarlet fever, saving her life, but caught the fever herself and died on the third day, on her deathbed joining Victor and Elizabeth's hands and expressing her hope for their union, asking Elizabeth to take her place in the family.