Always in the Way
Summary
Shrouded in the pall of recent loss, four-year-old Dorothy, scion of the affluent lawyer Winfred North, navigates the desolate landscape of her mother's absence. Her father, a titan of industry, finds himself adrift in the maelstrom of his own ambition, rendering him tragically oblivious to his daughter's profound emotional needs. Into this vacuum steps Helen Stillwell, a widow accompanied by her own progeny, whose calculated entrance into Winfred's life culminates in a hasty marriage. Helen, however, harbors no maternal warmth for Dorothy; instead, the child becomes an inconvenient shadow, relegated to the periphery of a newly constructed family unit where she is perpetually 'in the way.' The unbearable weight of this neglect eventually propels Dorothy into a perilous odyssey of escape. Providentially, she is discovered by the Goodwins, a missionary couple whose benevolence offers a fleeting respite. Yet, upon their return to the North estate, Helen Stillwell executes a breathtaking act of perfidy, disavowing any knowledge of Dorothy whatsoever—a cold, calculated maneuver designed to consolidate her own children's claim to Winfred's considerable legacy. Thus, Dorothy is spirited away by the Goodwins to the distant shores of Africa, embarking on an ill-fated spiritual crusade among indigenous populations, a venture whose noble intentions ultimately confront the harsh, unforgiving realities of an unfamiliar world.
Synopsis
Four-year-old Dorothy, the daughter of rich lawyer Winfred North, is inconsolable over her mother's recent death. Her father, too absorbed with business to pay attention to his daughter and her problems, marries Helen Stillwell, a widow with her own two children. Helen ignores Dorothy while taking care of her own children, treating Dorothy as if she's always "in the way". Finally Dorothy can take no more and runs away. She is found by the Goodwins, a married missionary couple, but when they bring her home, Helen Stillwell denies knowing Dorothy at all, seeing a chance for her own children to inherit Winfred's wealth and cut Dorothy out of the picture altogether. The Goodwins take Dorothy to Africa with them to bring Christianity to the natives, but matters don't work out quite as well as they expected.
