Romance Norris, Kathleen Thompson: The Treasure. V1. 17 Oct 2009

[crutledge]

Kathleen Thompson Norris (July 16, 1880, San Francisco, California – January 18, 1966, Palo Alto, California) was an American novelist and wife of fellow writer Charles Norris, whom she wed in 1909. She was educated in a special course at the University of California and wrote many popular romance novels that some considered sentimental and honest in their prose. Norris was the highest-paid female writer of her time, and many of her novels are held in high regard today. Many of her novels were set in California, particularly the San Francisco area. They feature detailed descriptions of the upper-class lifestyle. After 1910 she contributed to Atlantic, The American Magazine, McClure's, Everybody's, Ladies' Home Journal and Woman's Home Companion.

Excerpt
Lizzie, who happened to be the Salisbury’s one servant at the time, was wasteful. It was almost her only fault, in Mrs. Salisbury’s eyes, for such trifles as her habit of becoming excited and “saucy,” in moments of domestic stress, or to ask boldly for other holidays than her alternate Sunday and Thursday afternoons, or to resent at all times the intrusion of any person, even her mistress, into her immaculate kitchen, might have been overlooked. Mrs. Salisbury had been keeping house in a suburban town for twenty years; she was not considered an exacting mistress. She was perfectly willing to forgive Lizzie what was said in the hurried hours before the company dinner or impromptu lunch, and to let Lizzie slip out for a walk with her sister in the evening, and to keep out of the kitchen herself as much as was possible. So much might be conceded to a girl who was honest and clean, industrious, respectable, and a fair cook.