In The Cage Summary

An intelligent, unnamed young woman works as a telegraph operator in a small English post office branch located inside Cocker's, an upscale grocery in tan expensive neighborhood in London. She is engaged to Mr. Mudge, an earnest, decent but dull grocer. Her father and siblings are dead, so she supports her alcoholic mother. Mr. Mudge is quite willing to support her mother and allow her to live with the couple after marriage. He has recently been promoted, and encourages the telegraphist to move to the cheaper Chalk Farms neighborhood, near his new job, so that he can see her every day. As an added inducement, she would also save three shillings a week on rent. However, the telegraphist has a mind of her own, and refuses, saying that it is worth three shillings to encounter the upper class people...