In the short story The Face of Helen, Charlie Burns is one of two men (the other being Philip Eastney) vying for the attention of Gillian West. Burns is eventually successful and becomes engaged to Gillian. The fallout from this love triangle and how Mr Satterthwaite and Harley Quin help forms the main plot of the story.
Burns is a clerk in a shipping firm with a fair salary and also a little money of his own. Mr Satterthwaite observed that Burns is "a very ordinary young man. Nice, straightforward young chap, plenty to say for himself, good opinion of himself without being conceited, nice-looking without being unduly handsome." "He will never set the Thames on fire" but Gillian clearly loves him.