Tom Goodenough

Tom Goodenough appeared briefly in The Borrowers and was introduced in The Borrowers Afield.

He was three years older than The Boy, so about twelve, and was present with a ferret when the rat-catcher and others tried to smoke out Pod, Homily and Arrietty. He saw them running away outside. He lived with his grandfather, who was the gamekeeper, and was friends with Spiller. He referred to the Hendrearys as part of his "collection" of Borrowers; Hendreary's boys, for their part, referred to him as quite "tame." He rescued the Clocks from Mild Eye and took them to the cottage, and would talk often with Arrietty. However, shortly afterwards, his grandfather had to go to the hospital. Tom was sent to stay with an uncle, Fred Tarabody, who was an ostler at the Swan Hotel.

At some point, Mrs. May’s great-uncle, Sir Montague, promised Tom the gamekeeper’s cottage.

When he tried to tell people about the Borrowers, he became known as the biggest liar in five counties. He later became the gamekeeper.

When he was an old man, his cottage was willed to Mrs. May. He told Kate some of the story of the Borrowers and showed her a diary of Arrietty's that he had saved, but didn’t want the story put in writing. She wrote it down for her children after he had died.

Description
As a boy, he had tow-colored (blond) hair, blue eyes, and a crack in his voice. As an old man, he was tall and thin, and heavy about the shoulders. He had lived in the cottage for almost eighty years.