Books Should Be Free Loyal Books Free Public Domain Audiobooks & eBook Downloads |
|
Poor, Dear Margaret Kirby By: Kathleen Thompson Norris (1880-1966) |
---|
![]()
POOR, DEAR MARGARET KIRBY AND OTHER STORIES
VOLUME III This book is Jim's, this page shall bear
Its witness to my love for him.
Best of small brothers anywhere,
Who would not do as much for Jim?
CONTENTS POOR, DEAR MARGARET KIRBY
BRIDGING THE YEARS
THE TIDE MARSH
WHAT HAPPENED TO ALANNA
THE FRIENDSHIP OF ALANNA
"S IS FOR SHIFTLESS SUSANNA"
THE LAST CAROLAN
MAKING ALLOWANCES FOR MAMMA
THE MEASURE OF MARGARET COPPERED
MISS MIX, KIDNAPPER
SHANDON WATERS
GAYLEY THE TROUBADOUR
DR. BATES AND MISS SALLY
THE GAY DECEIVER
THE RAINBOW'S END
ROSEMARY'S STEPMOTHER
AUSTIN'S GIRL
RISING WATER POOR, DEAR MARGARET KIRBY I
"You and I have been married nearly seven years," Margaret Kirby
reflected bitterly, "and I suppose we are as near hating each other as
two civilized people ever were!" She did not say it aloud. The Kirbys had long ago given up any
discussion of their attitude to each other. But as the thought came
into her mind she eyed her husband lounging moodily in her motor car,
as they swept home through the winter twilight with hopeless, mutinous
irritation. What was the matter, she wondered, with John and Margaret Kirby young,
handsome, rich, and popular? What had been wrong with their marriage,
that brilliantly heralded and widely advertised event? Whose fault was
it that they two could not seem to understand each other, could not
seem to live out their lives together in honorable and dignified
companionship, as generations of their forebears had done? "Perhaps everyone's marriage is more or less like ours," Margaret mused
miserably. "Perhaps there's no such thing as a happy marriage." Almost all the women that she knew admitted unhappiness of one sort or
another, and discussed their domestic troubles freely. Margaret had
never sunk to that; it would not even have been a relief to a nature as
self sufficient and as cold as hers. But for years she had felt that
her marriage tie was an irksome and distasteful bond, and only that
afternoon she had been stung by the bitter fact that the state of
affairs between her husband and herself was no secret from their world.
A certain audacious newspaper had boldly hinted that there would soon
be a sensational separation in the Kirby household, whose beautiful
mistress would undoubtedly follow her first unhappy marital experience
with another and, it was to be hoped, a more fortunate marriage. Margaret had laughed when the article was shown her, with the easy
flippancy that is the stock in trade of her type of society woman; but
the arrow had reached her very soul, nevertheless. So it had come to that, had it? She and John had failed! They were to
be dragged through the publicity, the humiliations, that precede the
sundering of what God has joined together. They had drifted, as so many
hundreds and thousands of men and women drift, from the warm, glorious
companionship of the honeymoon, to quarrels, to truces, to discussion,
to a recognition of their utter difference in point of view, and to
this final independent, cool adjustment, that left their lives as
utterly separated as if they had never met. Yet she had done only what all the women she knew had done, Margaret
reminded herself in self justification. She had done it a little more
brilliantly, perhaps; she had spent more money, worn handsomer jewels
and gowns; she had succeeded in idling away her life in that utter
leisure that was the ideal of them all, whether they were quite able to
achieve it or not. Some women had to order their dinners, had
occasionally to go about in hired vehicles, had to consider the cost of
hats and gowns; but Margaret, the envied, had her own carriage and
motor car, her capable housekeeper, her yearly trip to Paris for
uncounted frocks and hats. All the women she knew were useless, boasting rather of what they did
not have to do than of what they did, and Margaret was more
successfully useless than the others... Continue reading book >>
|
Genres for this book |
---|
Fiction |
Literature |
Short stories |
eBook links |
---|
Wikipedia – Kathleen Thompson Norris |
Wikipedia – Poor, Dear Margaret Kirby |
eBook Downloads | |
---|---|
ePUB eBook • iBooks for iPhone and iPad • Nook • Sony Reader |
Kindle eBook • Mobi file format for Kindle |
Read eBook • Load eBook in browser |
Text File eBook • Computers • Windows • Mac |
Review this book |
---|