John Flemming imagines Marjorie Daw in an illustration by John Cecil Clay, 1908
"Marjorie Daw" is a short story by Thomas Bailey Aldrich. One of Aldrich's first short stories, it was first published in 1869 before its inclusion in the book collection Marjorie Daw and Other People in 1873.
The story is written as a series of letters between two friends. When Jack breaks his leg, and can't get about in fine summer weather, Ed starts writing about a beautiful and kind young woman named Marjorie Daw. Jack becomes madly smitten, and determined to intervene. At last, Ed confesses what had been meant as a diversion: "For oh, dear Jack [. . . ] -- there isn't any Marjorie Daw!"
