An Angel in Disguise Summary ICSE Class 10 English

An Angel In Disguise (Summary)

The story ‘An Angel In Disguise’ is written in the year 1851 by the distinguished 19th century American author and editor Timothy Shay Arthur. The ‘angel’ is the little girl in the story whose name is Maggie. She was of ill health and nobody adopted her after her mother died. However Joe, a kind man took her to his home and their life changed.

Summary of An Angel in Disguise by T. S. Arthur

The main character of the story is a little girl whose name is Maggie. A poor, unidentified woman dies due to consuming excess alcohol. Due to this addiction, she was out casted by the villagers. The villagers arranged her funeral properly as they felt sympathetic towards her. She had three kids of her own. The eldest son, John who was twelve years old was adopted by a farmer to assist him in farming. The second one, Kate was adopted by Mrs Elli Begrudgingly as she could work in any factory.

Due to poor health, Maggie was left alone. At a very young age, she fell from a window. Her spine was damaged from that time and she became permanently bed ridden. No one took an effort to send her to the poor house though everyone suggested that.

Everyone left after the funeral. Joe Thompson, the wheelwright in the village took Maggie to his house. He looked like a rough man but he used to love children dearly. He and his wife were incapable of kids. Maggie realized that Joe was standing outside the hovel so he requested him not to leave her.

Joe’s wife, Jane Thompson was not pleased after seeing Maggie in her house. She asked Joe to get rid off Maggie as soon as possible.

To his reply, she said that according to the Bible, people who help children shall not be left without rewards. Joe asked her to remove the bitterness from her heart. Maggie was motherless, homeless and permanently bed ridden. Her heart melted a bit after getting to know the miserable condition of Maggie.

To send Maggie to the poor house the next day, Joe would make errands. He left for work. That very evening he saw that Jane Thompson was sitting by Maggie’s bed and both were having a conversation. He felt that he should the matter aside about Maggie. So he did not tell anything further.

He went to see the theme a Maggie for a bit. Then at supper time Jane asked her husband as what he was going to do with Maggie. He replied that he would send Maggie to the poorhouse the next day. Jane did not reply anything. Though, Joe realized that the years of bitterness has already started to fade. She took food for Maggie and waited for her to finish.

The gap that was created in Joe Thompson’s heart was filled up by the innocence, sweetness, gratitude and unconditional love of Maggie. She asked John to keep Maggie for a couple of days. But that day never came and they lived as a family.