Sara Jeannette Duncan: Stories

Elfrida Bell feels stifled in her small hometown of Sparta, Illinois. All the townspeople, except her dear mother, expect poor Elfrida to marry and live her life as a housewife. Elfrida, however, has other plans. She's too smart to waste her talent in the home the way her mother did. And so she runs away to Europe hoping to find a career as a journalist.

The peculiar conditions of East Indian society bring together Hilda Howe, a gifted actress of sensational play, and Laura Filbert, a salvation army captain. The salvation methods fall with the emotional actress, who , however, comes under the influence of an ascetic priest. The peculiar methods of an evangelistic and a roman catholic mission are described with wit and humour, and also the patho that made the adventures of a "Memsahib and his honour and a lady" so delightful.