The speaker. He is working in his study in the evening when he hears his three playful daughters preparing to ambush him. When they do, he plays along with them and teases them that they will be his prisoners.
The "grave" daughter.
The "laughing" daughter.
The daughter with the "golden hair."
The Question and Answer section for The Children’s Hour is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.
The speaker's daughters invade the castle, as they burst into his study.
It is stated that the setting is the speaker's study looking out into the broad hall stair,
From my study I see in the lamplight, Descending the broad hall stair, Grave Alice, and laughing Allegra, And Edith with golden hair.
Actually the "old man" is the children's father... he wants to keep the children and the memory locked within his heart.
But put you down into the dungeon In the round-tower of my heart. And there will I keep you forever, Yes, forever and a...