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Contents (80)
  1. CONTENTS
  2. ACTING ON IMPULSE
  3. CONTENTS
  4. INTRODUCTION
  5. “A PROPOSAL TO CICELY”
  6. INTRODUCTION
  7. A PROPOSAL TO CICELY
  8. THE END
  9. READING “A PROPOSAL TO CICELY”
  10. “THE LITTLE LADY”
  11. INTRODUCTION
  12. THE LITTLE LADY
  13. I.
  14. II.
  15. III.
  16. THE END
  17. READING “THE LITTLE LADY”
  18. “LINCKES’ GREAT CASE”
  19. INTRODUCTION
  20. LINCKES’ GREAT CASE
  21. I.
  22. II.
  23. III.
  24. IV.
  25. V.
  26. VI.
  27. VII.
  28. THE END
  29. READING “LINCKES’ GREAT CASE”
  30. “THE BULLDOG AND THE BEAST”
  31. INTRODUCTION
  32. THE BULLDOG AND THE BEAST
  33. THE END
  34. READING “THE BULLDOG AND THE BEAST”
  35. “ACTING ON IMPULSE”
  36. INTRODUCTION
  37. ACTING ON IMPULSE
  38. I.
  39. II.
  40. III.
  41. IV.
  42. THE END
  43. READING “ACTING ON IMPULSE”
  44. “WHOSE FAULT WAS IT?”
  45. INTRODUCTION
  46. WHOSE FAULT WAS IT?
  47. THE END
  48. READING “WHOSE FAULT WAS IT?”
  49. “THE CHINESE SHAWL”
  50. INTRODUCTION
  51. CONT
  52. THE CHINESE SHAWL
  53. I.
  54. II.
  55. III.
  56. IV.
  57. V.
  58. VI.
  59. VII.
  60. VIII.
  61. THE END
  62. READING “THE CHINESE SHAWL”
  63. “THE OLD MAID”
  64. INTRODUCTION
  65. THE OLD MAID
  66. THE END
  67. READING “THE OLD MAID”
  68. “LOVE”
  69. INTRODUCTION
  70. LOVE
  71. I.
  72. II.
  73. III.
  74. THE END
  75. READING “LOVE”
  76. THE SEARCH FOR “ON SUCH A NIGHT”
  77. GEORGETTE HEYER’S BIBLIOGRAPHY
  78. FURTHER READING
  79. COMING SOON!
  80. OCTOBER 29, 2019

As always in Heyer, class beliefs are inherent. Her only friend at work is Malcolm, “who was of her class and wanted to be an artist.” Her other friend is Janet, who is never fully explained but who appears to be Mary’s flatmate, speaks the same well-bred language and is sufficiently attractive to become engaged to “an adoring, many-times-repulsed young man.” It is Janet who shows Mary how to make the most of the Chinese shawl and it is this which pushes the story forward to its inevitable happy ending.

In the Heyer family albums, there is a striking black-and-white photograph of Georgette Heyer wearing an elegant embroidered Chinese shawl. The photo was taken sometime in 1923 – possibly to mark Heyer’s twenty-first birthday – and it is likely that the shawl inspired the story. Certainly there are elements of “The Chinese Shawl” that would later appear in Heyer’s final contemporary novel, Barren Corn.

“The Chinese Shawl” is rare, or even unique, among Heyer short stories in that it was translated into Danish. On 13 March 1924 it appeared in translation in the Danish (now defunct) magazine Tidens Kvinder under the title, “Det kinesiske Sjal.” There is some suggestion that the story may have been published in Swedish prior to its Danish translation, but to date no such translation has been found. This would be the last Heyer contemporary short story of this kind, for her final short in the genre would feature a much older, quite independent, heroine.

CONT

THE CHINESE SHAWL

I.

MARY drew it out of its tissue-paper wrappings and allowed the heavy silken masses to unfold themselves, hanging from her fingers in soft-hued radiance.

“How lovely!” Janet gasped. “How wonderful!”

Mary shook it out so that it trailed upon the floor.

“Lovely? Oh, yes, and useless! If my aunt wanted to make me a present—heaven knows why she has elected to do so; it’s an unexpected event—she might have sent me something that I could use. What on earth’s the good of this?”

“But, Mary, it’s so beautiful! It must have cost pounds and pounds.”

“I’d rather have the money, then. This reminds me of a cartoon I once saw. The presents rich people send to their penniless relatives.”

“I don’t know how you can talk like that! It’s so perfectly lovely!”

Mary laid it over the back of a chair.

“I wish you wouldn't harp on its loveliness. It’s beautiful, I know. If I were in the habit of going to the opera, and if I had the sort of frock that would suit it, I should think it a topping present. As I’m a miserable little shorthand-typist living in rooms and possessing one ancient evening dress, I don’t quite see the point of it. No doubt I’m ungrateful.”

Janet picked up the shawl and examined the sprawling pattern with admiring eyes and caressing fingers.

“I suppose it is rather a silly present,” she sighed. “Still—can’t you do anything with it?”

“We might use it as a bedspread or a tablecloth,” shrugged Mary. Janet shrieked at this suggestion.