Re-enter John Matthews Manly

When Manly told Edith in December 1910 that he loved her, Edith joyously spread the news among her friends. But when Kate arrived for the wedding she found Edith giving up on marriage in favor of “legalized irregularity.” Kate considered Edith’s partnership with Manly to be ideal, but she worried that if they didn’t marry people would talk. Even if Manly was an “eternal bachelor,” she held, marriage was possible. Companionship, in her view, was everything. As this chapter further indicates, Kate originally hoped that Edith would quickly settle her debts and return to England. But she also held that Edith’s great novel should be American. If Edith chose to remain in the States, therefore, Kate was willing to relocate to Boston. But if Edith’s future lay with Manly Kate would as soon make her career in India. This is what she indeed did, and with great distinction.