About this story
The linen is sound, and you have enough of it to meet any respectable household. You step into this one-chapter preview with Janet Summerhayes at the center, where choices turn on the people, promises, and pressure already in the room. The packed linen waited by the door; the unknown household waited beyond the morning road. The chapter closes on a continuation question rather than resolving the novel's larger arc.
How it opens
Janet Summerhayes was sorting linen at the Clover vicarage, but she did not look like the resigned governess of a cautionary tale. The last light touched folded cuffs, Buckinghamshire lace, and two small gifts waiting to be packed.
Mrs BlandThe linen is sound, and you have enough of it to meet any respectable household. A girl must watch the small repairs when she goes out alone.
Janet smiled over the heap. Aunt Mary had brought her up at Clover after her parents were gone, kindly but as a dependent, and Janet felt gratitude without mistaking it for a reason to stay forever.
I will remember every button. I will also remember that a new life is not a punishment for being nineteen.
Mrs BlandMrs Harwood may be agreeable, but a stranger can be left outside a family even when she teaches its children. You must keep the vicarage as a home to return to.
The VicarI found her pleasant when we spoke. That is not a full map of St John's Wood, but it is a start.