The Enchanted April

It is a dreary afternoon in February. Mrs. Wilkins is sitting in an uncomfortable women’s club in London reading the paper. An advertisement piques her interest: Someone is leasing out a small castle in Italy, on the Mediterranean, for the month of April. She sets the paper down in a huff: She would very much appreciate a month on the Italian coast, but she is of modest means and knows that she could never afford it. Her husband, Mellersh, is a solicitor, but their income is small, and she has very little in savings. Mellersh encourages economy in their household (although not with his food) and has always advised Mrs. Wilkins to carefully safeguard her “nest egg.” She never knows when she might need it. She wonders if perhaps this castle is exactly what she “needs.”

She looks up from the paper to see Mrs. Arbuthnot, a woman she knows by sight, sitting at a nearby table. Mrs. Arbuthnot is active in their church’s many circles, particularly in those focused on mentoring young people. Mrs. Wilkins does not enjoy social occasions, church included, and she is too shy to have ever introduced herself to Mrs. Arbuthnot. Mellersh insists that they maintain an active social life so that he might gain new clientele, but Mrs.