The Doctor's Sweetheart and Other Stories was published in 1979. It is composed of short stories found in old magazines and periodicals by Catherine McLay. The book contains 14 stories, many of which are romantic stories of courtships and reconciliations, as well as stories of orphans and spinsters. Click on the story titles, for a short, spoiler-free summary of each short story:
"Kismet" (1899)
"Emily's Husband" (1903)
"The
Girl and the Wild Race" (1904)
"The Promise
of Lucy Ellen" (1904)
"The Parting
of the Ways" (1907)
"The Doctor's
Sweetheart" (1908)
"By Grace
of Julius Caesar" (1908)
"Akin to Love" (1909)
"The Finished
Story" (1912)
"My Lady Jane" (1915)
"Abel
and his Great Adventure" (1917)
"The Garden
of Spices" (1918)
"The Bride
is Waiting" (1932)
"I Know a Secret" (1935)
"Kismet" (Canadian
Magazine, July 1899)
A women and her husband meet at a horse race after five years of separation. Will
the two be able to put their differences in the past and reconcile?
"Emily's
Husband" (Canadian Magazine, November 1903)
Emily and Stephen Fair separated after two years of marriage. Five years
later, the two have still refused to speak. When Emily hears the Stephen
is deathly ill with typhoid, her inflexibility and reserve is tested.
"The
Girl and the Wild Race" (Era Magazine, January 1904)
Judith Stewart is 27 and unmarried. After being nagged by her aunt Theodora
Whitney one too many times about being an old maid, Judith declares she will
marry the first man who asks her, without question. When gossip of Judith's
words reach the town, two men race to propose first.
"The
Promise of Lucy Ellen" (The Delineator, February 1904)
Cecily and her cousin Lucy Ellen Foster made a promise to face old maidenhood
together, by never marrying and always living together. However, when
Lucy Ellen's old beau returns to town, she wants to be released from her promise.
"The
Parting of the Ways" (Canadian Magazine, February 1907)
Beatrice Longworth is unhappily married to a groveling cad. Town gossips
note that no one would feel pity for Mr. Longworth if Beatrice ran off with
Maurice Cunningham. After speaking to her young friend, Stephen Gordon,
who idealizes her goodness, she must re-evaluate a future decision.
"The
Doctor's Sweetheart" (Canadian Magazine, June 1908)
Narrated by Miss Tranquil, this story describes the love of 16 year old Marcella
with Doctor John, a man 22 years her senior. When Doctor John asks Marcella's
uncle to marry his niece, he is refused. On top of that, her uncle takes
Marcella away. She promises to return in five years, but only two people
believe she will return.
"By
Grace of Julius Caesar" (Canadian Magazine, September
1908)
Anne and Melissa are cousins, who are canvassing for money to cushion the church
pews. They dread visiting Isaac Appleby's house because both recently
refused to marry him. Isaac is not at home, but his bulldog, Julius Caesar
is. Anne and Melissa are so frightened that they escape on a ladder to
Isaac's roof. When Isaac returns, he refuses to help them down until
one of them agrees to marry him.
"Akin
to Love" (Canadian Magazine, December 1909)
David Hartley is in love with Josephine Elliott. He's been proposing
to her for the past 18 years, each time being turned down. Josephine
refuses to marry him once and again, and tells him never to ask her again or
she will stop speaking to him. He agrees. When David's sister,
Zillah, is ill, Josephine comes to their house to care for her and David, and
the state of the Hartley house shocks her.
"The
Finished Story" (Canadian Magazine, December 1912)
The narrator of the story is a young writer. He meets Miss Sylvia, a
sixty-year old woman at a hotel resort. She loves to hear the confidences
of the young people, and the narrator is her favorite because he reminds her
of her old love. After the narrator shares a short story with Miss Sylvia,
she pleads with him to change the ending and shares her own love story. Little
does she know that the narrator can provide her with the final chapter of her
own story.
"My
Lady Jane" (Maclean's
Magazine, February 1915)
Elliott Cameron is delayed in Broughton overnight and decides to look up his
cousin, Clark Oliver. The two men look remarkably alike, and even their
own mothers cannot tell them apart. Elliott owes Clark a favor, and Clark
asks him to pose as himself at a dinner party that evening because he has two
engagements. Elliott agrees, and meets an old love he was once engaged
to named Jane Harvey.
"Abel
and his Great Adventure" (Canadian Magazine, February
1917)
Abel Armstrong is a quiet peaceful man who finds joy in his garden and watching
the moonrise. He came home after a year of college to care for his sister
Tamzine who "went crazy." In spite of this, he's satisfied
with his quiet life, and shares his perspective and two important stories with
a young schoolmaster.
"The
Garden of Spices" (Maclean's Magazine, March 1918)
Jims is an orphan who lives with his Uncle Walter and half-Aunt Augusta. We
meet him after he has been locked in the blue room as punishment by his Aunt. Little
does she know that he's terrified in the room. He watches from the window
the "garden of spices" in the neighbor's yard. Jims begins
to sneak out of the blue room during his now-enjoyable punishments to visit
the garden, where he meets a women with a scar on her face named Avery Garland. When
his Uncle and Aunt learn where he's been visiting, the plot twists unexpectedly.
"The
Bride is Waiting" (Canadian Magazine, April 1932)
It's Susan's thirtieth birthday. No one remembers, not even Ellery who
proposes to her each year in spite of her refusals. Susan was in love
with a man who died at Vimy Ridge, and intends to remain loyal to his memory
all her life. Ellery asks Susan to decorate a home that he just purchased. But
she's shocked that it's not for her; it's for Ellery's soon-to-be bride Juanita.
"I
Know a Secret" (Good Housekeeping, August 1935, pp. 22-25)
Jane Lawrence is tempted by Dovie Johnson's "I have a secret" chant. When
Dovie tells Jane that she is not who she thinks she is, Jane takes her words
at face value at the expense of her identity.
This story is used later in L.M. Montgomery's Anne of the Ingleside, Chapter
30, where Nan wants to know Dovie's secret.
Notes: In 1982, this short story was adapted in a short television movie titled
I Know a Secret.
Created 07.11.03, Last Updated 05.05.09
© An L.M. Montgomery Resource Page and TickledOrange.com