James was one of the great letter-writers of any era. More than ten thousand of his personal letters are extant, and over three thousand have been published in a large number of collections.

Today’s story, “The Marriages” by Henry James, was first published in The Atlantic Monthly in August 1891. It is a study of the relationship of a young girl with her widowed father’s recent romantic interest, a Mrs. Churchley.  Young Adela must learn to juggle the jolts and jealousies inherent in this relationship with the sacrosanct memory of her late beloved mother.

How well she accomplishes this is a matter for the reader (or listener, in this case) to decide.