About this story
A housekeeper's dinner hour, a locked tower, and prayers you have declined to attend test how much religion and grief one evening can hold. By the time the house goes quiet, you tell Alan more than you mean to, and learn less than you wish about the quarrel that shaped your father's life.
How it opens
Rain crossed the Flent valley as your hired carriage left the marsh road and entered a neglected park.
You were Laura Fountain, traveling with your invalid stepmother to the ancestral home of her Catholic brother.
The carriage is here at last; Bannisdale must look forbidding in this rain.
Easy with the little dog, Miss Fountain; I shall help Augustina before touching anything else.
Choose
Ask Alan to support his sister while you control the dog and gather her medicines.
Give Alan the luggage and help Augustina down without accepting his arm.