
The delayed post left you pacing the long garden walk with one black-edged letter in your pocket. Mrs Lawrie died this morning, and Mary now has neither a home nor a settled future. You step into this one-chapter preview with Mary Lawrie at the center, where choices turn on the people, promises, and pressure already in the room. The key remained in her palm while Mary waited on the threshold for the answer that would govern all three lives. The chapter closes on a continuation question rather than resolving the novel's larger arc.
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