The Novels of Frances Hodgson Burnett. Thomas Recchio

that early scene the narrative creates the expectation that if Laurence falls in love with Louisiana, the revelation of her identity as one of the putative “new species of young woman” (and of his sister’s role in the “trick”) will lead to the exposure of the pretense and arrogance of the New York characters. As Ann Thwaite puts it, “The story is far more than a gentle satire on the pretensions of literary New York; it is a passionate defense of the simple, unsophisticated values, of the quiet life Frances had herself known in New Market [Tennessee]” (66). If that were the case, however, the story would have had a far different ending. To paraphrase The Examiner