A Cup of tea by Katherine Mansfield

 

A Cup of Tea

                                                                               Katherine Mansfield

A Cup of Tea is a beautiful short story written by Katherine Mansfield who is a great English short story writer.  In her short stories she uses symbolic use of objects, accurate descriptions of events and a deep understanding of human nature.  In this short story Katherine Mansfield tells us the basic nature of a wife when her husband praises the beauty of a poor girl.

2.  One winter evening Rosemary Fell had been buying something in an antique shop in Curzon street. It was a beautiful box. Rosemary Fell is rich, educated and good looking. But she is not beautiful. Her husband Philip has great admiration for her artistic taste. After shopping she came to her car. Suddenly a poor girl begged Rosemary to give her the price of a cup of tea. Rosemary could not believe it. How poor the girl is. She has no money even for a cup of tea! Rosemary is very lavish and spent a lot of money every day. Suddenly a wonderful idea flashed through her mind. She wanted to adopt the poor girl as her own sister and look after her. She thought of many such adventures of the heroes of Dostovesky’s novels. People in the society would praise her kindness and generosity. She took the poor girl home in her car. She took her to her bed room in the upstairs. She asked servant to give her plenty of hot tea, brandy and food. While Miss Smith was drinking and eating greedily, Rosemary talked to her with love and kindness. Then she bathed her, gave her fine dress and combed her hair.

3.  While Rosemary was talking to Miss Smith, Philip, her husband knocked on the door and the door was opened. Soon Philip learnt that Rosemary wanted to adopt the beggar girl as her own sister and she is going to spend a lot of money on the poor girl. Philip knew that if Rosemary wanted anything, no one could stop her. But this time her nonsense should be stopped. Philip asked Rosemary to come to library for a moment. She agreed.  Philip waited for her wife. Soon Rosemary came. First, Philip coaxed Rosemary to give up her foolish plan of adopting the poor girl as a member of the family. But Rosemary was obstinate. Then Philip used a clever trick.  He said slowly. “ Miss Smith was astonishingly pretty”! It was a rude shock to Rosemary. She never thought of that point. At once she knew that her husband was attracted by the beauty of that beggar girl! If this is the opinion of her husband today, what will happen tomorrow. Certainly Rosemary would be thrown out of the house. Rosemary walked away. She paid Miss Smith some money and sent her away. Rosemary again put up more powder and other perfumes on her face, make herself more beautiful with new dresses and went back to Philip in the library and told him that  Miss Smith wanted to go home and Rosemary gave her a present of some money and sent her away. She then asked Philip whether he liked her. Philip told her that he liked her very much. She wanted to ask him whether she was pretty.