A Surprising Cure

A Short Story set during the Labor Unrest in Bristol of 1889 and 1890

What if your wife returned home from vacation with a much younger man?

It is September, 1889 in Bristol, England.

Edward Daniell, a lawyer with a well-heeled clientele, lives a comfortable middle-class life. He is careful to hide the fact that he was born into poverty 36 years ago.

Eight years ago, Edward acquired a wife in the shape of 19-year-old Miriam Wheeler, the daughter of a well-to-do merchant in Bristol. However, things were not quite as they seemed. Although Miriam had a conventional Victorian childhood, poor Edward had no idea that he would be acquiring a firebrand, a woman who became more and more unconventional as the years went by. Eventually, Miriam Daniell acquired a taste for Socialism, becoming a member of the Bristol Socialist Society and Treasurer of the Bristol Strike Committee of 1889-1890.

Despite her passion for politics, Miriam is not well. Her condition is so unmentionable that no-one (not even her husband) cares to discuss it, but it necessitates trips to Edinburgh so that she can consult with her Lady Doctor. After one of these trips, Miriam returns home to Bristol bringing a young man she met in Edinburgh, a Scot from Dunfermline who quit medical school in Edinburgh to become yet another Socialist firebrand...