STORIES OF SUCCESSFUL MARRIAGES


THE MANCHESTER MARRIAGE Elizabeth Gaskell

A MERE INTERLUDE Thomas Hardy

A FAITHFUL HEART George Moore

THE SOLID GOLD REEF COMPANY, LIMITED Walter Besant

THE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE Henry James




_Elizabeth Gaskell_

THE MANCHESTER MARRIAGE

(_Household Words_, Christmas 1858)


Mr and Mrs Openshaw came from Manchester to settle in London. He
had been, what is called in Lancashire, a salesman for a large
manufacturing firm, who were extending their business, and opening a
warehouse in the city; where Mr Openshaw was now to superintend their
affairs. He rather enjoyed the change; having a kind of curiosity
about London, which he had never yet been able to gratify in his brief
visits to the metropolis. At the same time, he had an odd, shrewd