About this story
Before you leave, tell me whether Sir Charles Bassett is in town. You step into this one-chapter preview with Sir Charles Bassett at the center, where choices turn on the people, promises, and pressure already in the room. Before either man met the other again, Bella's private answer had changed what each stood to lose. The chapter closes on a continuation question rather than resolving the novel's larger arc.
How it opens
Richard Bassett made polite conversation in Bella Bruce's morning-room while admiration remained louder in his eyes.
Bella BruceBefore you leave, tell me whether Sir Charles Bassett is in town.
The careless wording produced sudden anger in a man who had spent a month carefully approaching affection.
Richard BassettI do not know; we do not speak, because he occupies the inheritance stolen from me.
I had expected a social answer and found myself between a family quarrel and its unspoken courtship.
Choose
How was the entail changed before either cousin inherited?
What property remains indisputably yours?