HAPPILY EVER AFTER
A Story by Aldous Huxley
In the quiet, war-shadowed countryside of Wiltshire, a long-lost friend arrives after an arduous journey across the Atlantic, stepping into the faded grandeur of Blaybury Manor. Peter Jacobsen, a man of reason and detachment, reunites with the ailing but ever-cordial Alfred Petherton and his daughter, Marjorie, a woman torn between duty and unspoken desires. As the Great War rages beyond the hedgerows and flower-laden gardens, conversations unfold—about love, loss, and the uncertain future of those left behind.
But beneath the surface of quiet English civility lies a world of repressed emotions, veiled cynicism, and the slow erosion of innocence. Marjorie writes longing letters to her fiancé at the front, struggling to define what she truly feels. A chance remark, a fleeting touch, an evening walk in the moonlight—all build toward an irreversible moment. As war reshapes lives with ruthless indifference, some will cling to the past, others will grasp at new passions, and one will be lost forever.
Will the promise of love endure, or will war leave only the fragments of what might have been?