Charlotte's Ladies

"Charlotte's Ladies" is a poignant novella by Lucy Maud Montgomery that weaves together themes of friendship, love, and the complexities of women's lives in a small community. The story centers around Charlotte, a kind-hearted and introspective woman who navigates the challenges and joys of her relationships with a diverse group of women. As they each face their unique struggles, the bonds of sisterhood and solidarity emerge, highlighting the importance of understanding and supporting one another. Through Montgomery's lyrical prose, the narrative explores the nuanced emotions and aspirations of its characters, celebrating the strength and resilience of women in early 20th-century society.

• Short story

								
Just as soon as dinner was over at the asylum, Charlotte sped away to
the gap in the fence--the northwest corner gap. There was a gap in the
southeast corner, too--the asylum fence was in a rather poor
condition--but the southeast gap was interesting only after tea, and
it was never at any time quite as interesting as the northwest gap.

Charlotte ran as fast as her legs could carry her, for she did not
want any of the other orphans to see her. As a rule, Charlotte liked
the company of the other orphans and was a favourite with them. But,
somehow, she did not want them to know about the gaps. She was sure
they would not understand.

Charlotte had discovered the gaps only a week before. They had not
been there in the autumn, but the snowdrifts had lain heavily against
the fence all winter, and one spring day when Charlotte was creeping
through the shrubbery in the northwest corner in search of the little
yellow daffodils that always grew there in spring, she found a
delightful space where a board had fallen off, whence she could look
out on a bit of woodsy road with a little footpath winding along by
the fence under the widespreading boughs of the asylum trees.
Charlotte felt a wild impulse to slip out and run fast and far down
that lovely, sunny, tempting, fenceless road. But that would have been
wrong, for it was against the asylum rules, and Charlotte, though she
hated most of the asylum rules with all her heart, never disobeyed or
broke them. So she subdued the vagrant longing with a sigh and sat
down among the daffodils to peer wistfully out of the gap and feast
her eyes on this glimpse of a world where there were no brick walls
and prim walks and never-varying rules.

Then, as Charlotte watched, the Pretty Lady with the Blue Eyes came
along the footpath. Charlotte had never seen her before and hadn't the
slightest idea in the world who she was, but that was what she called
her as soon as she saw her. The lady was so pretty, with lovely blue
eyes that were very sad, although somehow as you looked at them you
felt that they ought to be laughing, merry eyes instead. At least
Charlotte thought so and wished at once that she knew how to make them
laugh. Besides, the Lady had lovely golden hair and the most beautiful
pink cheeks, and Charlotte, who had mouse-coloured hair and any number
of freckles, had an unbounded admiration for golden locks and roseleaf
complexions. The Lady was dressed in black, which Charlotte didn't
like, principally because the matron of the asylum wore black and
Charlotte didn't--exactly--like the matron.

When the Pretty Lady with the Blue Eyes had gone by, Charlotte drew a
long breath.

"If I could pick out a mother I'd pick out one that looked just like
her," she said.

Nice things sometimes happen close together, even in an orphan asylum,
and that very evening Charlotte discovered the southeast gap and found
herself peering into the most beautiful garden you could imagine, a
garden where daffodils and tulips grew in great ribbon-like beds, and
there were hedges of white and purple lilacs, and winding paths under
blossoming trees. It was such a garden as Charlotte had pictured in
happy dreams and never expected to see in real life. And yet here it
had been all the time, divided from her only by a high board fence.

"I wouldn't have s'posed there could be such a lovely place so near an
orphan asylum," mused Charlotte. "It's the very loveliest place I ever
saw. Oh, I do wish I could go and walk in it. Well, I do declare! If
there isn't a lady in it, too!"

Sure enough, there was a lady, helping an unruly young vine to run in
the way it should go over a little arbour. Charlotte instantly named
her the Tall Lady with the Black Eyes. She was not nearly so young or
so pretty as the Lady with the Blue Eyes, but she looked very kind and
jolly.

I'd like her for an aunt, reflected Charlotte. Not for a mother--oh,
no, not for a mother, but for an aunt. I know she'd make a splendid
aunt. And, oh, just look at her cat!

Charlotte looked at the cat with all her might and main. She loved
cats, but cats were not allowed in an orphan asylum, although
Charlotte sometimes wondered if there were no orphan kittens in the
world which would be appropriate for such an institution.

The Tall Lady's cat was so big and furry, with a splendid tail and
elegant stripes. A Very Handsome Cat, Charlotte called him mentally,
seeing the capitals as plainly as if they had been printed out.
Charlotte's fingers tingled to stroke his glossy coat, but she folded
them sternly together.

"You know you can't," she said to herself reproachfully, "so what is
the use of wanting to, Charlotte Turner? You ought to be thankful just
to see the garden and the Very Handsome Cat."

Charlotte watched the Tall Lady and the Cat until they went away into
a fine, big house further up the garden, then she sighed and went back
through the cherry trees to the asylum playground, where the other
orphans were playing games. But, somehow, games had lost their flavour
compared with those fascinating gaps.

It did not take Charlotte long to discover that the Pretty Lady always
walked past the northwest gap about one o'clock every day and never at
any other time--at least at no other time when Charlotte was free to
watch her; and that the Tall Lady was almost always in her garden at
five in the afternoon, accompanied by the Very Handsome Cat, pruning
and trimming some of her flowers. Charlotte never missed being at the
gaps at the proper times, if she could possibly manage it, and her
heart was full of dreams about her two Ladies. But the other orphans
thought all the fun had gone out of her, and the matron noticed her
absent-mindedness and dosed her with sulphur and molasses for it.
Charlotte took the dose meekly, as she took everything else. It was
all part and parcel with being an orphan in an asylum.

"But if the Pretty Lady with the Blue Eyes was my mother, she wouldn't
make me swallow such dreadful stuff," sighed Charlotte. "I don't
believe even the Tall Lady with the Black Eyes would--though perhaps
she might, aunts not being quite as good as mothers."

"Do you know," said Maggie Brunt, coming up to Charlotte at this
moment, "that Lizzie Parker is going to be adopted? A lady is going to
adopt her."

"Oh!" cried Charlotte breathlessly. An adoption was always a wonderful
event in the asylum, as well as a somewhat rare one. "Oh, how
splendid!"

"Yes, isn't it?" said Maggie enviously. "She picked out Lizzie because
she was pretty and had curls. I don't think it is fair."

Charlotte sighed. "Nobody will ever want to adopt me, because I've
mousy hair and freckles," she said. "But somebody may want you some
day, Maggie. You have such lovely black hair."

"But it isn't curly," said Maggie forlornly. "And the matron won't let
me put it up in curl papers at night. I just wish I was Lizzie."

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