The Doctor's Family - Chapter 5

'The Doctor’s Family' (1861) by Scottish author Margaret Oliphant is a beautifully observed Victorian novella, set in the fictional English town of Carlingford, a little out from London.

In this chapter, we observe the strange household at their new lodgings at St Roque’s Cottage, a small, picturesque, cramped place on the common.

Nettie quickly settles in, industrious and unflinching — sewing frocks, minding the children and cheerfully setting the cottage to rights despite its limits.

Miss Wodehouse visits and gently worries aloud about Nettie’s self-sacrifice; their candid conversation explores duty, independence and the practical cost of caring for others...