Munsey's Magazine, July 1923

"The Wife That Wasn't" by Alice Rix

This complete novelette centers on Peter Barrymore, a young British playwright whose debut work is heavily revised by actress Irene Vansittart. She retitles his play, cuts a character he cherished (the idealized "Dodo"), and plans to star in the reworked version herself. Peter's aversion to her modern sensibilities paradoxically makes his subsequent plays successful in post-war New York, though he resents producing the frivolous, "up-to-the-minute modernity" he despises.

The narrative then introduces Sally Morgan, a spirited, unconventional young woman whose views on marriage perplex Peter. During their first meeting aboard the Mauretania, she suggests training for marriage as one would for any profession, rather than treating it as blind chance. Peter finds her thoroughly objectionable—too modern, too casual, lacking refinement. Yet Sally, observing Peter, finds him too self-satisfied and in need of "shaking up." Their complex dynamic promises to reshape Peter's rigid idealism.