My Poor Aunt

1891
Charlotte Perkins Gilman
My Poor Aunt
B-

A young woman realizes that she doesn't have to marry to be happy, and in fact her divorced publisher aunt is much happier than her old-before-her-time mother or her society aunt.  After Belle defies them and the sarcastic boarder, her aunt shows up and hires her as assistant editor.  (Belle has been sending "little things" off to various newspapers, including unknowingly her aunt's.)  Then the annoying boarder turns out to be on Belle's side and asks, "Aunt Kate, may I go, too?"  And he does.  I could've done without that, even if he was just playing devil's advocate.  So far Gilman has not figured out how to do a twist ending.  Still, I like Belle better than the artist in the previous story, and the way "happiness" is handled has a nice irony.  Also, is this the first sympathetic portrayal of a divorcee in my collection?  (At this point, Gilman was separated but not yet divorced from her first husband.)