Summary

In “The Third Notebook,” determined to accept her “lot in life,” the narrator began keeping “Father company in the parlor” each evening (123). While he did the crossword, she read “novels about Modern Independent Women” she “resolved never to become” (123). She was pleased she had no interest in “striving for things” above her station (123). As an unmarried woman, she had come to accept that “quiet despair” was all she could hope for (124).

Years prior, the narrator had a different outlook. After her mother died and Veronica left for Cambridge, the narrator found a job at Charles Brownlee’s acting agency. Once acclimated with the work, she realized she “had found a place in the world” (130). The work even inspired her to write stories. Her first story, An Agreeable Reception, was published in the Woman’s Journal, although only after making...