Amoretti

 Amoretti


Amoretti is a sonnet cycle written by Edmund Spenser in the 16th century. The cycle describes his courtship and eventual marriage to Elizabeth Boyle.

Amoretti was first published in 1595 in London by William Ponsonby. It was printed as part of a volume entitled Amoretti and Epithalamion. Written not long since by Edmunde Spenser. The volume included the sequence of 89 sonnets, along with a series of short poems called Anacreontics and Epithalamion, a public poetic celebration of marriage. Only six complete copies remain today, including one at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C. and one at Oxford's Bodleian Library. "The volume memorializes Spenser's courtship of Elizabeth Boyle, a young, well-born Anglo-Irish woman, and the couple's wedding on June 11, 1594" In the sonnets of Amoretti Spenser succeeds in "immortalizing the name of his bride to be ... by devices of word play".

Amoretti has been largely overlooked and unappreciated by critics, who see it as inferior to other major Renaissance sonnet sequences in the Petrarchan tradition. In addition, it has been overshadowed by Spenser's other works, most notably The Faerie Queene, his epic allegorical masterpiece. C. S. Lewis, among the most important twentieth-century Spenser scholars, said that "Spenser was not one of the great sonneteers".However, other critics consider Spenser's sonnets to be innovative and to express a range of tones and emotions, and are much more skillful and subtle than generally recognized.

Othello

Othello by William Shakespeare

In the opening of the play, Roderigo, a young gentleman who loved and hoped to get Desdemona, is talking about the elopement of Desdemona with Othello, the moor. Roderigo and Iago go to inform about the incident to her father Senator Brabantio. When he hears it, he rages. Immediately, Iago leaves Brabantio and reaches to Othello to give the news of Brabantion's anger and his reaction.

Othello and Desdemona are called at the office of the Duke of Venice. There Brabantion accused Othello of seducing his beautiful daughter by magic. In defense, Othello

The Duke assigns Othello as the general of the defense forces against the Turks, and as per order, he must leave for Cyprus immediately. Desdemona too wants to go with Othello to Cyprus. But with the Duke's permission, Othello manages for Desdemona to follow him later in another ship with Iago and his wife Emilia. Othello mistakenly thinks Iago as a trusted friend of his.

On the next side, Roderigo is upset as his beloved is married to another man. Here, Iago convinces him that soon Desdemona will be fed up with Othello and he can have a chance to follow her. Iago is secretly planning to destroy the happiness of Othello and ruin him using Cassio as an instrument.

Iago is on his mission to ruin the life of Othello. He starts planting the seeds of doubt in the mind of Othello about the fidelity of Desdemona. Iago makes Othello believe that her lover is no one but Cassio, the junior of Othello. Iago then schemes in such a way that Cassio, fully drunk, gets a fight with Roderigo. Because of the fight, Cassio loses his job. Cassio is convinced by Iago that if goes and talks to Desdemona about his jobless situation, then Othello may reinstate him in his job. Iago himself manages the meeting between Desdemona and Cassio at Othello's house at night. Then, Iago brings Othello in the scene when Cassio is pleading Desdemona. In fear of his senior Othello, Cassio leaves hastily which is noticed by Othello. Desdemona immediately and enthusiastically begins to beg Othello to excuse Cassio and also requests him to give him back his job. The moment Desdemona and Emilia leave, however, Iago begins to plant seeds of doubt and suspicion in Othello's mind.

By now, Othello is in the grip of Iago's manipulation. He demands of Iago some proof that Desdemona is unfaithful. Iago uses the handkerchief of Desdemona, which she unknowingly dropped, as a proof of her infidelity. Iago creates so many fake and manipulated scenes to convince Othello that Desdemona is not happy and fair to him. She loves the white skinned Cassio. Convinced of his wife's betrayal and enraged and grief-stricken, Othello rushes into thoughtless action, making an agreement with Iago that he, Othello, will kill Desdemona, and Iago will dispose of Cassio.

Meanwhile, Roderigo and Iago attack Cassio in the street, but it is Cassio who wounds Roderigo. Iago rushes out and stabs Cassio in the leg. Othello, hearing Cassio's cries for help, believes that half of the revenge is completed and hastens to fulfil his task of killing innocent Desdemona. Desdemona is in bed when Othello enters. He tells her to pray a last prayer as he has no wish to kill her soul. Realizing that he plans to murder her, Desdemona protests her innocence of any wrongdoing. Knowing that he doesn't believe her, she begs him to let her live just a little longer, but he smothers her with a pillow.

When innocent Emilia, Desdemona's servant and Iago's wife, comes to know about the plot of her husband, reveals the truth in front of Montano and Gratiano. She explains how unknowingly Desdemona's handkerchief came into Cassio's possession. She is told to be quiet but she refuses to be quiet, and Iago stabs her. Cassio though wounded confirms Emilia's story. When all the truth is disclosed about the innocence and fidelity of Desdemona and the bitter truth of Iago's plot, Othello cannot bear the pain and stabs himself and falls on the same bed where Desdemona lies dead.

Reunion: W. St. John Taylor

Reunion: W. St. John Taylor

Main Theme

We do not choose our family
The first-person narrator writes early in the story, "He was a stranger to me [...] but as soon as I saw him I felt that he was my father, my flesh and blood, my future and my doom" (183). Our parents determine our genetics, which in turn help determine our personality, traits, and habits. Even though the narrator says "that was the last time I saw my father" (185), his father will "return" every time he finds himself acting similarly to his father.
Intelligent people can be the worst
The father has a secretary, shows up on time, and at different points speaks French, Italian, and German. We do not learn his profession, but the father projects an educated air, albeit one which is abusive to the service staff.
The "sorrows of gin"
Cheever struggled with alcoholism himself, and the character of the father indeed drinks gin. While the reader is left to make sense of why the father acts like a raging alcoholic, at a simple level this character does not know how to relate to his estranged son in any sort of healthy, normal way, so he fills the void with abusive interactions with waitstaff, to the mild horror of his son.

The Monkey’s Paw: W.W. Jacobs

The Monkey’s Paw: W.W. Jacobs

The short story involves Mr. and Mrs. White and their adult son, Herbert. Sergeant-Major Morris, a friend who served with the British Army in India, introduces them to a mummified monkey's paw. An old fakir placed a spell on the paw, so that it would grant three wishes. The wishes are granted but always with hellish consequences as punishment for tampering with fate. Morris, having had a horrific experience using the paw, throws the monkey's paw into the fire but Mr. White retrieves it. Before leaving, Morris warns Mr. White that if he does use the paw, then it will be on his own head.

At Herbert's suggestion, Mr. White flippantly wishes for £200, which will enable him to make the final mortgage payment for his house, even though he believes he has everything he wants. The next day his son Herbert leaves for work at a local factory. Later that day, word comes to the White home that Herbert has been killed in a terrible machinery accident. Although the employer denies responsibility for the incident, the firm has decided to make a goodwill payment to the family of the deceased. The payment, of £200, exactly matches the amount Herbert suggested his father should wish for.

Ten days after their son's death and a week after the funeral, Mrs. White, mad with grief, insists that her husband use the paw to wish Herbert back to life. Reluctantly he does so, despite a premonition of summoning his son's mutilated and decomposing body. An hour or so later—the cemetery being two miles away—there is a knock at the door. As Mrs. White fumbles at the locks in a desperate attempt to open the door, Mr. White, terrified of "the thing outside", retrieves the paw and makes his third wish. Thus, the knocking suddenly stops. Mrs. White opens the door to find no one is there. She wails in disappointment and misery.

The Boy Comes Home: A.A. Milne

 The Boy Comes Home: A.A. Milne


The Boy Comes Home Short Summary: It is a room in Mr. James house where Philip is sitting for breakfast after the usual hour as determined by Mr. James. Nobody can have breakfast aft 8:00. But Philip has just returned from war and wants his breakfast after that hour. He asks Marry, the servant, to get him something to eat. She is very afraid of the cook, Mrs. Higgins. But Philips orders her to go and get the breakfast. Aunt Emily enters and seems very caring about Philip. She asks about his stay in the trenches. Then we come to know that Philip does not like much of his uncle James because his strict rules and regulations. There comes Marry telling the aunt that Mrs. Higgins wants to talk to her. Philip asks her to come to the room. Mrs. Higgins comes and says: "Breakfast is at eight o'clock. It always has been as long as I've been in this house, and always will be until I get further orders." Here Philips says that he is just giving further orders for this. She retaliates and the matter reaches even to resignation. Philip cuts a cheque and fires her from her job. All of a sudden the attitude of Mrs. Higgins changes and she says: "If it's only a bit of breakfast, I don't say but what I mightn't get it, if I'm asked decent." Uncle James talks to his wife, Emily, that he wishes to talk to Philip; he seems unhappy over Philip's unpunctuality. He tells her: "I have decided that the best thing he can do is to come into the business at once." She asks her husband if he will ask him or just impose his decision upon him. The uncle replies: "What's the difference? Naturally we shall talk it over first, and--er--naturally he'll fall in with my wishes." The aunt tells her husband that "he doesn't seem somehow like a boy who can be told what to do. I'm sure they've taught him something". But Uncle James does not seem to listen. 

A Marriage Proposal

A Marriage Proposal

Ivan Vassiliyitch Lomov, a long-time neighbor of Stepan Stepanovitch Chubukov, has come to propose marriage to Chubukov's 25-year-old daughter, Natalia. After he has asked and received joyful permission to marry Natalia, she is invited into the room, and he tries to convey to her the proposal. Lomov is a hypochondriac, and, while trying to make clear his reasons for being there, he gets into an argument with Natalia about The Oxen Meadows, a disputed piece of land between their respective properties, which results in him having "palpitations" and numbness in his leg. After her father notices they are arguing, he joins in, and then sends Ivan out of the house. While Stepan rants about Lomov, he expresses his shock that "this fool dares to make you (Natalia) a proposal of marriage!" Natalia then realizes that Lomov wanted to marry her and immediately starts into hysterics, begging for her father to bring him back. He does, and Natalia and Ivan get into a second big argument, this time about the superiority of their respective hunting dogs, Guess and Squeezer. Ivan collapses from his exhaustion over arguing, and father and daughter fear he's dead, sending them into another round of hysterics. However, after a few minutes he regains consciousness, and Chubukov all but forces him and his daughter to accept the proposal with a kiss. Immediately following the kiss, the couple gets into another argument over their dogs.

Kim

1) Kim

Rudyard Kipling’s novel Kim takes place in British India in the late nineteenth century. Kim, a thirteen-year-old,was raised by the keeper of an opium den in Lahore. Of Irish descent, Kim has the ability to blend into different cultures. Because of his affinity for language, he is known as “Friend of All the World.” He soon meets a Buddhist lama from Tibet, who has come to seek Enlightenment at the Holy River. Kim decides he will accompany him to help him find the river—its location is a mystery to all. He tells his friend Mahbub Ali that he is going, and Ali gives him papers to bring to an Englishman in Umballa. On the night of their departure, Kim sees two strangers poking through Ali’s things and knows that there is danger.

On the train ride to Umballa, Kim and the Tibetan meet people from all walks of life, who celebrate an array of customs and speak many languages. When they arrive, Kim finds the Englishman, a colonel, and delivers the papers from Ali. It is only then that he learns there is war brewing and suspects the papers are directly related. On the outskirts of Umballa, Kim and the lama meet an older Indian soldier who fought for the British years before. Kim pretends to foretell a war, but the man asks for more information, which Kim provides. The soldier joins Kim and the lama, and the trio travel to the Grand Trunk Road.

There, Kim is captured by an English regiment. When they discover that he is Irish, and that his father, Kimball O’Hara, fought with them, they refuse to let him travel with the lama. The lama leaves to resume his search for the Holy River. Kim is left with a drummer boy, who verbally and physically abuses him. Despite this, Kim manages to get a letter to Mahbub Ali. Father Victor, who travels with the regiment, reveals a letter that says the lama will pay for Kim’s education at St. Xavier’s, a Catholic school for white men. Ali arrives and tries to convince Kim that going to St. Xavier’s is what is best for him. The Colonel Creighton arrives next;he wants to eventually employ Kim as a spy.

Kim spends a year at St. Xavier’s and, that summer, disguises himself as a Hindu beggar to go and work with Ali. He learns that Ali is a spy for the British Army, and that Ali will train him to become a spy in the Great Game. When Kim later overhears two strangers planning to kill Ali, he warns Ali and saves his life. Creighton then sends him to stay with Lurgan Sahib, another spy and a hypnotist. He and ChunderMookerjee oversee Kim’s spy training before Mookerjee takes Kim back to St. Xavier’s and gives him a medicine kit. Kim has a successful year at school, and trains again during his breaks.

When Kim is sixteen, he is discharged from school and given a disguise as a Buddhist priest so he can begin working as a spy. Kim has an identity crisis but meets up with the lama again. When Kim helps disguise a man in the spy network, the lama believes he has become capable of casting spells, and warns Kim against using such powers for pride. Kim meets up with Mookerjee, who tells him that the northern border is under threat. Five kings ruling the independent regions beyond the border are allying with the Russians. Mookerjee asks Kim to help, so Kim convinces the lama that they have to travel north.

When Mookerjee catches up with the spies, he discovers that one of them is actually French. He convinces them that he is an emissary, sent to welcome them by the Rajah of Rampur. When he and the spies reunite with the lama and Kim, the Russian tries to take the lama’s drawing of the Wheel of Life. A fight ensues, and the French spy escapes with their luggage. Kim tells the Buddhist servants with the French spy that the luggage is cursed, and so is able to relieve them of it—and the papers it contains. The lama falls ill and decides he must return south, so Kim convinces a woman who attempted to seduce him to provide a litter to carry the lama. He also tells her that he is a white man.

After a twelve-day journey, they arrive, and Mookerjee takes the secret documents to the colonel. Kim had fallen ill but, upon recovery, he slips back into his identity crisis that leads to an epiphany. Instead of feeling that he does not have a place in the world, he suddenly feels that he belongs with everyone. The lama reveals to Kim that he attained Enlightenment while he fasted. He tells Kim that his search is at an end and that his spirit has found the Holy River.

Poem

1)Daffodils


2)La Belle Dame sans Merci

3)Fear No More

4) Ozymandias

Ozymandias

Ozymandias
The speaker recalls having met a traveller from an ancient land who told him a story about the ruins of a statue in the desert of his native country. The traveller said that two vast legs of stone stand without a body and near this, a massive crumbling and broken stone-head lies, which is half sunk in the sand. The statue has a bitter and cruel expression of ‘sneer and cold command’ and this indicates that the sculptor had understood the passions of his subject really well. It was obvious that the statue was of a man who sneered with contempt for those who were weaker than himself, yet fed his people because of something in his heart.

On the pedestal near the face, the traveler reads an inscription in which the ruler Ozymandias tells anyone who might happen to pass by, basically, “Look around and see how awesome I am!” But there is no other evidence of his awesomeness in the vicinity of his giant, broken statue. There is just a lot of sand, as far as the eye can see. The traveler ends his story.

Fear No More

Fear No More
The poem Fear No More is a reflection of the affliction that human beings have when they are on this earth.
It is a comparison between the living and the dead and how the dead have a better fate then the living.
It states that death is impartial and does not discriminate on basis of wealth, gender or social status.
Every atrocity that the living have to face in their life time is gone with death.
The only thing that matters is the deeds that a person has done during their life time.

La Belle Dame sans Merci

La Belle Dame sans Merci
La Belle Dame sans Merci" ("The Beautiful Lady Without Mercy") is a ballad produced by the English poet John Keats in 1819. The title was derived from the title of a 15th-century poem by Alain Chartier called La Belle Dame sans Mercy.

Considered an English classic, the poem is an example of Keats' poetic preoccupation with love and death. The poem is about a fairy who condemns a knight to an unpleasant fate after she seduces him with her eyes and singing. The fairy inspired several artists to paint images that became early examples of 19th century femme fatale iconography. The poem continues to be referenced in many works of literature, music, art, and film.

Daffodils

Daffodils

Hey There! The speaker says that, wandering like a cloud floating above hills and valleys, he encountered a field of daffodils beside a lake. The dancing, fluttering flowers stretched endlessly along the shore, and though the waves of the lake danced beside the flowers, the daffodils outdid the water in glee. The speaker says that a poet could not help but be happy in such a joyful company of flowers. He says that he stared and stared, but did not realize what wealth the scene would bring him. For now, whenever he feels “vacant” or “pensive,” the memory flashes upon “that inward eye / That is the bliss of solitude,” and his heart fills with pleasure, “and dances with the daffodils.”

Drama

1)All my Son

2) Tughlaq

Novels

1)Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

2) Moby-Dick

Moby Dick

Moby-Dick
Ishmael travels in December from Manhattan Island to New Bedford, Massachusetts with plans to sign up for a whaling voyage. The inn where he arrives is overcrowded, so he must share a bed with the tattooed cannibal Polynesian Queequeg, a harpooneer whose father was king of the fictional island of Rokovoko. The next morning, Ishmael and Queequeg attend Father Mapple's sermon on Jonah, then head for Nantucket. Ishmael signs up with the Quaker ship-owners Bildad and Peleg for a voyage on their whaler Pequod. Peleg describes Captain Ahab: "He's a grand, ungodly, god-like man" who nevertheless "has his humanities". They hire Queequeg the following morning. A man named Elijah prophesies a dire fate should Ishmael and Queequeg join Ahab. While provisions are loaded, shadowy figures board the ship. On a cold Christmas Day, the Pequod leaves the harbor.

Ishmael discusses cetology (the zoological classification and natural history of the whale), and describes the crew members. The chief mate is 30-year-old Starbuck, a Nantucket Quaker with a realist mentality, whose harpooneer is Queequeg; second mate is Stubb, from Cape Cod, happy-go-lucky and cheerful, whose harpooneer is Tashtego, a proud, pure-blooded Indian from Gay Head, and the third mate is Flask, also from Martha's Vineyard, short, stout, whose harpooneer is Daggoo, a tall African, now a resident of Nantucket.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

1) Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Robert Louis Stevenson, one of the masters of the Victorian adventure story, was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, on November 13, 1850. He was often sick as a child, and respiratory troubles plagued him throughout his life. He enrolled at Edinburgh University at the age of seventeen with the intention to study engineering, but ended up studying law instead. He became a qualified lawyer but did not pursue the profession, choosing instead to become a full-time writer. As a young man, he traveled through Europe, leading a bohemian lifestyle and penning his first two books, both travel narratives. Stevenson felt constrained by the strict social norms of the Victorian era during which he lived, and many of his works demonstrate a sharp tension between upstanding duty and reckless abandon.

Tughlaq

2) Tughlaq
Tughlaq written by Girish Karnad in 1964, is his best loved play, about an idealist 14th-century Sultan of Delhi, Muhammad bin Tughluq, and allegory on the Nehruvian era which started with ambitious idealism and ended up in disillusionment.

All my Son

1) All my Son

Joe Keller and Herbert Deever, partners in a machine shop during the war, turned out defective airplane parts, causing the deaths of many men. Deever was sent to prison while Keller escaped punishment and went on to make lots of money. In a work of tremendous power, a love affair between Keller's son, Chris, and Ann Deever, Herbert's daughter, the bitterness of George Keller, who returns from the war to find his father in prison and his father's partner free, and the reaction of a son to his father's guilt escalate toward a climax of electrifying intensity.

Winner of the Drama Critics' Award for Best New Play in 1947, All My Sons established Arthur Miller as a leading voice in the American theater. All My Sons introduced, themes that thread through Miller's work as a whole: the relationship between fathers and sons, and the conflict between business and personal ethics. 

The Mother

William Somerset Maugham was born in 1874 and died in 1965. He is one of the most popular writer of English fiction and drama.he has written many fiction work like "The Moon and Six Pence" , "Cakes and Ale" and of Human Bondage". Once he visited Indian in 1938 and by affecting by Indian philosophy in wrote "The Razor's Edge".  He is a great story teller who shows he is story's are construction of plots. He is story's are concerned with human follies and foibles. He is also master in presenting, Ironies of life.

The depiction of a psychological study of a woman's suffering / Isolation :

             "The Mother" is a touching story of a jealous and possessive woman whose name is La cachirra. when the story opens we find a quarrel between la cachirra and the porter from the very begining the readers get the quarrel some of her. Which gives a hint of her isolation and sufferings. She lives on her own without disturbing her neighbors. But she becomes very possessive when her son currito visits her. Currito ,no doubt loves his mother but not as much as his mother does other new characters are introduced in this story named Pilar and Rosalia. Currito false in love with rosalia at the very first sight when his mother comes to know about his affair which  rosalia she become very horrible and violent. she does not want ant woman let her son rob. Rosalia desert love Currito and becomes a rival of La cachirra.

             They psychological state of La cachirra mind can be found understood very easily. For she has spend seven years in jail to save to his child from the torture pape santi, as the took shelter from him. She has been living with out son for many years. after coming back from the jail she lives again without her son as he has stay away from her for his work, so as a mother it is quite natural. she longs for her only child because she has none in the world but her only Currito. La cachirra becomes the representative of all women. who suffer from the paint of isolation.

          So far as her psychological status is concerned she earns readers sympathy. She is right from her point of few that currito should give her priority. She is the woman who craves for someones company in her life as she has been alone along time La cachirra is a woman who has suffers a lot throughout her life on the other side Currito does in justice to his mother.

         La Cachirras life centers around her love for her son and as a wretched woman she is shaken by curritos love for an other woman Rosalia and as a result she stabs in to her nack and kills her.

Conclusion:
         To, sum up, can say that La cachirra's possessiveness and insecurity cause her isolation, she becomes the representation of those woman who are psychological disturbed her abnormal behavior is the out come of human sufferings in which Maugham is genius.

Short story

 1.A Cup of Tea – Katherine Mansfield
2.The Postmaster- R. Tagore
3. How much Land does a Man Need?-Leo Tolstoy
4.A True Story –Mark Twain
5. Blow up with Ship-Wilkie Collins
6.Mother -Somerset Maugham

Blow up with Ship-Wilkie Collins

The story is narrated in first person. The narrator was sent to sea when still a boy and became a mate at the age of twenty five. The setting is sea during the year 1818, when the Spanish colonies in South America were fighting for independence.

The writer sailed in the ship named, ‘The Good Intent’. The ship was laden with gun powder. It was sent to help a revolution. She had a crew of eight. As the ship contained gun powder, They were not allowed to smoke or light the lanterns. But the Captain used to light the candle when he went to bed or when he looked over his charts on the cabin table. Therefore the regulations didn’t apply to him.

Finally they reached the coast of South America and a boat came towards them rowed by two men, one was an Irishman and the other was an evil-looking native pilot. The native pilot was “skinny, cowardly, quarrelsome fellow”. He picked quarrel with everyone. He lighted the pipe and the narrator became angry and tried to stop him. The pilot tried to push him. He raised his hand and the pilot fell down and pulled out his knife. The narrator slapped his murderous face. The next morning when the narrator awakened, he found himself bound. His hands and legs were tied. The ship was in the hands of the Spaniards and all the seven members of the ship were killed except him.

A True story

This story was about a sixty-year-old black servant, Aunt Rachel, who is very powerful. Her employer Misto C has always seen her happy and cheerful, and that's when the story began. Aunt Rachel explained that even though she was a slave before, she loved her husband and their seven children dearly. She then remembers the time when her mistress went broke and had to auction off all of her slaves. Her husband and children were all auctioned off. Her youngest son, Henry, said that when he was old enough he would run away and work so he could buy her freedom. When Aunt Rachel was purchased she was taken to Newbern, where she became the family cook. When the Union Army Officers came into town, her owner, a Confederate colonel, left his slaves behind. The officers respected Aunt Rachel. Rachel always asked the officers if they have seen Henry and she gave a description of him. One night, there was a ball in the Union Headquarters, which was also Rachel's house. She overheard a young man telling the soldiers that he wouldn't return with them. The next morning that same young man returned to the house. As soon as Rachel saw the man she knew that it was her Henry.

How Much Land Does a Man Require?

The protagonist of the story is a peasant named Pahom, who overhears his wife and sister-in-law argue over the merits of town and peasant farm life. He thinks to himself "if I had plenty of land, I shouldn't fear the Devil himself!". Unbeknownst to him, Satan is present sitting behind the stove and listening. Satan abruptly accepts his challenge and also tells that he would give Pahom more land and then snatch everything from him. A short time later, a landlady in the village decides to sell her estate, and the peasants of the village buy as much of that land as they can. Pahom himself purchases some land, and by working on the extra land is able to repay his debts and live a more comfortable life.

The postmaster

The postmaster first took up his duties in the village of Ulapur. Though the village was a small one, there was an indigo factory near by, and the proprietor, an Englishman, had managed to get a post office established.

Our postmaster belonged to Calcutta. He felt like a fish out of water in this remote village. His office and living-room were in a dark thatched shed, not far from a green, slimy pond, surrounded on all sides by a dense growth.

The men employed in the indigo factory had no leisure; moreover, they were hardly desirable companions for decent folk. Nor is a Calcutta boy an adept in the art of associating with others. Among strangers he appears either proud or ill at ease. At any rate, the postmaster had but little company; nor had he much to do.

At times he tried his hand at writing a verse or two. That the movement of the leaves and the clouds of the sky were enough to fill life with joy—such were the sentiments to which he sought to give expression. But God knows that the poor fellow would have felt it as the gift of a new life, if some genie of the Arabian Nights had in one night swept away the trees, leaves and all, and replaced them with a macadamised road, hiding the clouds from view with rows of tall houses.

A Cup of Tea

1) A Cup of Tea

Rosemary Fell, a wealthy young married woman, goes to Curzon Street to shop at a florist's and in an antique shop (in which she admires, but does not buy, a beautifully painted small ceramic box). Before going to the car, Rosemary is approached by Miss Smith, a poor girl who asks for enough money to buy tea. Instead, Rosemary drives the girl to her plush house, determined to show her "that dreams do come true" and "that rich people did have hearts." At the Fells' home, Miss Smith eats her fill of food and tea. She then begins to tell Rosemary of her life until Rosemary's husband, Philip, comes in. Although initially surprised, Philip recovers and asks to speak to Rosemary alone.

In the library, Philip conveys his disapproval. When Rosemary resists dismissing Miss Smith, Philip tries another, more successful, tactic: He plays to Rosemary's jealousy and insecurity by telling her how pretty he thinks Miss Smith is. Rosemary retrieves three five-pound notes and, presumably, sends the girl away (a far cry from Rosemary's first vow to "look after" and "be frightfully nice to" Miss Smith). Later, Rosemary goes to her husband and informs him that "Miss Smith won't dine with us tonight." She first asks about the antique box from the morning, but then arrives at her true concern, quietly asking Philip, "Am I pretty?" The story ends with this question.