The Twelve-Pound Look

On the eve of his knighthood, Harry Simms is full of the great things he considers he has achieved. A typist has been hired to answer the messages ofcongratulation. She turns out to be his former wife, Kate, who was so oppressed by his hardness and petty mindedness that she secretly learned to type and left him as soon as she had earned twelve pounds, the price of a typewriter. She is quite contented with her lot, and her fearlessness and humor contrast strongly with the cowed and joyless expression of the second Lady Simms who, when Kate has gone, asks the price of a typewriter.