Janet, a Twin

Janet, a Twin by Dorothy Whitehill

Janet Page, thirteen years old and motherless, lives in the somber old Page house in Old Chester with her bedridden, formidable grandmother, Mrs. Page, and the servant Martha, her only companions a dog named Boru and a neighbor boy, Harry Waters. After a quarrel with Harry over his fear of a snake, Janet confides to Boru that she is lonely and wishes for a sister, then writes a defiant, unsanctioned letter to her unknown older brother Thomas, who lives on a ranch in Arizona and has never been allowed to be more to her than a name. She loses the letter before mailing it. Called to treat a neighbor's injured dog, Janet meets a mysterious boy in ragged clothes who helps her, then vanishes. The same day, a brusque, outspoken newcomer, Mrs. Ann Todd, befriends Janet, reveals she grew up in the Page house and was close to Janet's father, and bullies Mrs. Page into letting Janet help at the church fair, something long forbidden. Janet also has a secret refuge: a derelict mansion she calls the Enchanted Kingdom, reached by boat, filled with abandoned books she reads in secret. There she keeps encountering signs that someone else uses the library too. At the fair, after overhearing village girls mock her as "stuck up," Janet flees back to her Kingdom, where she finally meets the mysterious boy properly: Peter Gibbs, an orphaned, self-reliant boy boarding at a nearby farm while recovering his health, whose engineer father is dead and who is cared for by a guardian called Doc. Peter persuades her to return and face the fair. They become close companions, sharing the library, canoeing, and dreams, until an old caretaker mistakenly "arrests" them as trespassers and brings them before the true owner of the house—who turns out to be Mrs. Todd herself. Mrs. Todd tells Janet her own history: she eloped years ago against Mrs. Page's wishes to marry a man her family opposed, was banished, lost her husband and infant son, and has only now returned to Old Chester. She takes an interest in Peter's future. Soon after, Peter disappears, having run off to avoid becoming a burden to Doc; Mrs. Todd tracks him to Boston through a contact, and arranges for him to attend school and later to raise sheep on her land. Janet's lost letter is eventually answered: her brother Tom writes warmly, promising to visit. Driving an errand, Janet unknowingly picks up a stranger on the road who turns out to be Tom himself, newly arrived. Tom reveals to Janet the family's hidden history: their parents died in a sailing accident when Janet and her twin sister, Phyllis, were small; their grief-stricken grandmother forbade any mention of their mother, sent Tom away to school, and let their aunt, "Aunt Mog" (Marjorie Carter), take only Phyllis, keeping Janet and cutting off contact with the rest of the family for years. Soon Phyllis and Aunt Mog arrive by train, and the twins meet for the first time, delighted and inseparable. Mrs. Page, though stern, admits she loves Janet deeply despite never showing affection, and reveals plans to leave Janet her estate. Harry Waters, Mrs. Todd, and the Blake girls all adjust to the twins' presence, including a game in which Janet and Phyllis swap clothes and identities, fooling almost everyone except the sharp-eyed Mrs. Todd. Plans are made for Janet to leave Old Chester to live with Phyllis and Aunt Mog in the city, attend school, and eventually visit Tom's ranch out West. Before departing, Janet returns alone to the Enchanted Kingdom to say goodbye to her books and leaves a farewell note for Peter inside one of his favorite volumes, signed as "The Princess of the Enchanted Kingdom" to his "Lord Carrot Tops." The story closes with Janet and Tom boarding the train together, Janet looking back at the friends and the old life she is leaving, as Tom reassures her that her world and Phyllis's world will soon become "our world."

By Dorothy Whitehill · First published 1920 · Genre: Bildungsroman / Coming of Age, Friendship Fiction, Social Commentary / Social Critique · 21 chapters · 44,068 words

First lines

It was an every-day sort of a looking road, broad and dusty and flat. It ran straight across the landscape and ended abruptly in a merger of blue sky and sparkling sea. On either side of it sandy soil dotted with clusters of dwarfed scrub oaks stretched out into limitless space. There was an uninteresting sameness about its sunny dustiness that discouraged all hope of adventure.

But on a late September afternoon it was the setting of a little scene that marked the turning place in the life of Janet Page.

Similar titles

Genres

Tags

coming-of-age · orphaned child · twin sisters · family estrangement · coastal village · early twentieth century · isolation · grandmother-granddaughter · imagination and escape · secret mansion · books and reading · forbidden friendship

What this Textopian page supports

Janet, a Twin is listed on Textopian as a novel by Dorothy Whitehill, dated 1920 CE.

This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.

Good citation fit

Contents

More by Dorothy Whitehill