About this story
Three Sepoys, Marks; I have sworn it before better witnesses than you. You step into this one-chapter preview with Mollie Ward at the center, where choices turn on the people, promises, and pressure already in the room. The empty easel faces the window like an unanswered question. The chapter closes on a continuation question rather than resolving the novel's larger arc.
How it opens
The September lime avenue glows above Chelsea Hospital, where scarlet-coated pensioners argue beneath trees older than their stories.
Fergus McGillThree Sepoys, Marks; I have sworn it before better witnesses than you.
Corporal MarksTwo, McGill, and a wooden leg is more reliable than a memory sharpened by boasting.
Mollie Ward laughs behind a tree, then steps into the avenue with books, flowers, and an opinion neither veteran can ignore.
You are both brave enough to fight a battle that ended before either of you began telling it.
I will let Mollie turn the quarrel toward kindness without taking the soldiers' pride away.