What Every Woman Knows

J. M. Barrie wrote the four-act drama What Every Woman Knows. At the Duke of York's Theatre in London, showman Charles Frohman gave it its debut performance. Maggie Wylies, a plain young woman who they worry will stay a spinster, is the daughter of a wealthy but ignorant Scottish family. The Wylies learn one night that John Shand, a responsible young university student, has been breaking into their house to read books from their extensive collection. Shand is indigent and unable to afford to purchase the textbooks he needs for law school. Maggie Wylie and John Shand agree: if he agrees to marry her after five years, her family would pay for his schooling. Maggie utilizes her skills and contacts to quietly work behind the scenes to help John win the election after realizing her husband's desire to become a member of parliament. She keeps advancing his career without ever letting him realize that she is the driving force behind his success. In the end, he marries Lady Sybil Lazenby, a young Englishwoman who is stunning, elegant, and well-born.