
The March express is crowded, the stove is warm, and sleet lashes the glass before Richard Gilbert finishes three lines of his newspaper. There is no room, sir; the window seat is mine and the morning is bad enough without company. You step into this one-chapter preview with Richard Gilbert at the center, where choices turn on the people, promises, and pressure already in the room. The clear morning cannot explain why the crowded train now feels empty. The chapter closes on a continuation question rather than resolving the novel's larger arc.
Read Norine's Revenge, and, Sir Noel's Heir