‘Daughters of the Late Colonel’ by Katherine Mansfield

As a teacher reading this out loud in class, my job is to get across the delicate atmosphere in the house of Constantia and Josephine in the aftermath of their domineering father’s death. They are very different characters, but both it seems are simultaneously aging and childlike. The story is funny and tender, and a perfect demonstration of Mansfield’s delicate touch.

First published in the London Mercury, May 1921. Collected in The Garden Party and other stories, Constable, 1922