
You are Magdalen Vanstone, the impulsive younger daughter of a close, prosperous Somersetshire family, needling the breakfast table with imitations until a letter from New Orleans drains the color from your father's face. He and your mother leave for London within a day, alone, promising three weeks and no explanation beyond an order to mind Miss Garth. Your sister Norah is steadier about it than you are, but just as shut out, and the house empties around a fact nobody will name.
Read No Name