
An unusually warm summer found you still working while wealthier acquaintances had already abandoned London for their holidays. You need rest, though you will insist that loving work makes rest unnecessary. You step into this one-chapter preview with Catherine Harland at the center, where choices turn on the people, promises, and pressure already in the room. The Diana sprang forward, leaving you to discover why two unhappy strangers had carried you out to sea. The chapter closes on a continuation question rather than resolving the novel's larger arc.
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