Understood Betsy
By Dorothy Canfield Fisher (1917)
Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher (1917). Unabridged Charlotte Mason living book edition for Form II Literature & Classic Fiction.
Reading Understood Betsy this term?
Schedule chapters into your Charlotte Mason week with one tap and read the full unabridged text in a calm, distraction-free reader with zero ads or Gutenberg formatting quirks.
Instant setup • No credit card required • Keep your pace forever
Chapter 1 Sample & Typography Preview
Distraction-Free ReaderBelow is an unabridged preview of Chapter 1 formatted in our peaceful Living Term reader typography. No ads, no sidebars, and no eye strain.
Chapter I. What's In Heredity
Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher — Chapter 2
Honora Leffingwell is the original name of our heroine. She was born in the last quarter of the Nineteenth Century, at Nice, in France, and she spent the early years of her life in St. Louis, a somewhat conservative old city on the banks of the Mississippi River. Her father was Randolph Leffingwell, and he died in the early flower of his manhood, while filling with a grace that many remember the post of United States Consul at Nice. As a linguist he was a phenomenon, and his photograph in the tortoise-shell frame proves indubitably, to anyone acquainted with the fashions of 1870, that he was a master of that subtlest of all arts, dress. He had gentle blood in his veins, which came from Virginia through Kentucky in a coach and six, and he was the equal in appearance and manners of any duke who lingered beside classic seas.
Honora has often pictured to herself a gay villa set high above the curving shore, the amethyst depths shading into emerald, laced with milk-white foam, the vivid colours of the town, the gay costumes; the excursions, the dinner-parties presided over by the immaculate young consul in three languages, and the guests chosen from the haute noblesse of Europe. Such was the vision in her youthful mind, added to by degrees as she grew into young-ladyhood and surreptitiously became familiar with the writings of Ouida and the Duchess, and other literature of an educating cosmopolitan nature.
Honora's biography should undoubtedly contain a sketch of Mrs. Randolph Leffingwell. Beauty and dash and a knowledge of how to seat a table seem to have been the lady's chief characteristics; the only daughter of a carefully dressed and carefully, preserved widower, likewise a linguist,—whose super-refined tastes and the limited straits to which he, the remaining scion of an old Southern family, had been reduced by a gentlemanly contempt for money, led him 'to choose Paris rather than New York as a place of residence. One of the occasional and carefully planned trips to the Riviera proved fatal to the beautiful but reckless Myrtle Allison. She, who might have chosen counts or dukes from the Tagus to the Danube, or even crossed the Channel; took the dashing but impecunious American consul, with a faith in his future that was sublime. Without going over too carefully the upward path which led to the post of their country's representative at the court of St. James, neither had the slightest doubt that Randolph Leffingwell would tread it.
It is needless to dwell upon the chagrin of Honora's maternal grandfather, Howard Allison Esquire, over this turn of affairs, this unexpected bouleversement, as he spoke of it in private to his friends in his Parisian club. For many years he had watched the personal attractions of his daughter grow, and a brougham and certain other delights not to be mentioned had gradually become, in his mind, synonymous with old age. The brougham would have on its panels the Allison crest, and his distinguished (and titled) son-in-law would drop in occasionally at the little apartment on the Boulevard Haussmann. Alas, for visions, for legitimate hopes shattered forever! On the day that Randolph Leffingwell led Miss Allison down the aisle of the English church the vision of the brougham and the other delights faded. Howard Allison went back to his club.
Keep reading Understood Betsy in Living Term
Get instant access to all 42 unabridged chapters, plus 350+ other Charlotte Mason living books, poetry, hymns, and a peaceful weekly schedule builder.
Table of Contents
42 ChaptersEvery chapter below is pre-indexed for oral narration and easy 1-click scheduling into your weekly Charlotte Mason lesson plan.
Chapter I. What's In Heredity
Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher — Chapter 2
Chapter Ii. Perdita Recalled
Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher — Chapter 3
Chapter Iii. Concerning Providence
Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher — Chapter 4
Chapter Iv. Of Temperament
Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher — Chapter 5
Chapter V. In Which Providence Beeps Faith
Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher — Chapter 6
Chapter Vi. Honora Has A Glimpse Of The World
Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher — Chapter 7
Chapter Vii. The Olympian Order
Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher — Chapter 8
Chapter Viii. A Chapter Of Conquests
Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher — Chapter 9
Chapter Ix. In Which The Vicomte Continues His Studies
Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher — Chapter 10
Chapter X. In Which Honora Widens Her Horizon
Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher — Chapter 11
Chapter Xi. What Might Have Been
Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher — Chapter 12
Chapter Xii. Which Contains A Surprise For Mrs. Holt
Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher — Chapter 13
Chapter I. So Long As Ye Both Shall Live!
Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher — Chapter 14
Chapter Ii. “Stafford Park”
Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher — Chapter 15
Chapter Iii. The Great Unattached
Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher — Chapter 16
Chapter Iv. The New Doctrine
Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher — Chapter 17
Chapter V. Quicksands
Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher — Chapter 18
Chapter Vi. Gad And Meni
Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher — Chapter 19
Chapter Vii. Of Certain Delicate Matters
Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher — Chapter 20
Chapter Viii. Of Mental Processes—Feminine And Insoluble
Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher — Chapter 21
Chapter Ix. Introducing A Revolutionizing Vehicle
Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher — Chapter 22
Chapter X. On The Art Of Lion Taming
Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher — Chapter 23
Chapter Xi. Containing Some Revelations
Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher — Chapter 24
Chapter I. Ascendi
Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher — Chapter 25
Chapter Ii. The Path Of Philanthropy
Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher — Chapter 26
Chapter Iii. Vineland
Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher — Chapter 27
Chapter Iv. The Viking
Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher — Chapter 28
Chapter V. The Survival Of The Fittest
Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher — Chapter 29
Chapter Vi. Clio, Or Thalia?
Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher — Chapter 30
Chapter Vii. “Liberty, And The Pursuit Of Happiness”
Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher — Chapter 31
Chapter Viii. In Which The Law Betrays A Heart
Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher — Chapter 32
Chapter Ix. Wylie Street
Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher — Chapter 33
Chapter X. The Price Of Freedom
Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher — Chapter 34
Chapter Xi. In Which It Is All Done Over Again
Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher — Chapter 35
Chapter Xii. The Entrance Into Eden
Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher — Chapter 36
Chapter Xiii. Of The World Beyond The Gates
Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher — Chapter 37
Chapter Xiv. Containing Philosophy From Mr. Grainger
Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher — Chapter 38
Chapter Xv. The Pillars Of Society
Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher — Chapter 39
Chapter Xvi. In Which A Mirror Is Held Up
Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher — Chapter 40
Chapter Xvii. The Renewal Of An Ancient Hospitality
Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher — Chapter 41
Chapter Xviii. In Which Mr. Erwin Seek Paris
Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher — Chapter 42
Chapter 43: Pg Editor's Bookmarks:
Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher — Chapter 43
When you assign Understood Betsy to your weekly schedule, Living Term advances your bookmark to the next chapter every time a lesson is completed.
Add to Weekly Schedule (Free Trial)Why Charlotte Mason Parents Read With Living Term
Living Term replaces messy PDF downloads, ad-cluttered public domain archives, and lost paper bookmarks with one peaceful morning time habit.
Click Monday on your schedule, tap the reading row, and the next chapter opens immediately in your browser or tablet.
Complete spines from H.E. Marshall, Charlotte Yonge, Arabella Buckley, Thornton Burgess, plus 109 traditional hymns and poetry.
Every chapter includes noble narration prompts and copywork excerpts ready to go, saving Mom hours of Sunday evening prep.