"My Aunt Katherine" by Pansy tells the story of Mrs. Lyman, a dignified and deeply devout elderly woman whose life is upended by the selfishness and cruelty of her son-in-law's second wife following the death of her beloved daughter Margaret. When Mr. Agnew remarries, his new wife Laura immediately sets about making Mrs. Lyman's life uncomfortable, maneuvering her out of the sunny, comfortable room Margaret had lovingly furnished for her and into a dreary back chamber. When Mr. Agnew falls gravely ill and dies in a semi-delirious state, his wife manipulates him into leaving her the entire estate, cutting out Mrs. Lyman entirely. Left homeless and penniless in old age, Mrs. Lyman accepts her circumstances with quiet Christian faith and enters the Home for Aged Women, finding in God's will not bitterness but peace. At the Home, Mrs. Lyman is discovered by Esther Harlowe, a spirited and warm-hearted young woman of nineteen who visits the institution on charitable impulse after a sermon about giving a cup of cold water in Christ's name. Though they are strangers, the two are immediately drawn to one another. Mrs. Lyman reminds Esther of her lost grandmother, while the girl's golden hair and blue eyes call to mind Mrs. Lyman's own beloved daughter Margaret. A deep, mutually sustaining friendship develops between them, with Mrs. Lyman becoming a spiritual guide and substitute grandmother to the younger woman. Esther lives with her uncle and is subject to the cold, fault-finding authority of his wife and daughter, her Aunt Maria and Cousin Sophy. Hungry for affection since her mother's death, Esther impulsively accepts a marriage proposal from Clifford Langdon, a handsome, wealthy, but insufferably conceited and controlling young man who views Esther less as a partner than as a project to be shaped and corrected. He tasks her with literary exercises, criticizes her music and elocution, dismisses her faith as superstition, and manages her movements with an air of smug authority. Esther initially endures this because he has told her he loves her and she craves affection, but she grows increasingly aware that their spirits are fundamentally incompatible. The breaking point comes on Christmas morning. Esther has long promised to bring flowers and festivity to the elderly women of the Home. Langdon arrives with an impromptu plan and commands her to abandon her promise and join a sleigh party in the country. When she quietly but firmly refuses, he issues an ultimatum, speaks to her with contemptuous condescension, and when she does not yield, leaves in fury. The engagement subsequently collapses, and Esther finds herself subject to a storm of recrimination from her aunt and cousin, who are outraged that she has sacrificed so wealthy a prospect over, as they see it, the feelings of a few old women. On that same Christmas morning, by keeping her promise, Esther discovers Mrs. Lyman recovering from a broken ankle set with quiet skill by a young surgeon. Watching him work, and later hearing him kneel and pray spontaneously with a dying old patient, Esther is struck by how unlike he is from any man she has known. This doctor is Paul Evarts, and he proves to be Mrs. Lyman's long-lost nephew, her sister's only son, who has returned from years in England to find his aunt. His discovery transforms Mrs. Lyman's life, bringing her out of the Home and into his household, where she becomes his cherished housekeeper and is eventually restored, through Paul's prosperity, to the very room in the old Agnew house that Margaret had furnished for her. Paul and Esther begin their acquaintance through weekly visits to what Esther comes to call her own Aunt Katherine, and love grows naturally between them over books, microscopes, engravings, songs, and long walks across the moonlit city. There is no false start, no manipulation, and no command; their feelings are mutual and joyful. They marry in spring and build a life of quiet purpose, generosity, and happiness. Paul becomes celebrated and successful, and his prosperity flows outward to bless others. Even Mrs. Agnew, fallen on hard times and living nearby, is ministered to by Mrs. Lyman with a Christlike forgiveness that eventually softens the hard woman into faith and peace. Every Christmas, Paul and Esther return to the Home with thankful hearts, tracing aloud the small threads of circumstance that wove their life together, chief among them the steadfast goodness of Aunt Katherine herself.
By Pansy · First published 1884 · Genre: Young Adult Fiction, Family Drama, Domestic Fiction