
The township roofs crackle in the afternoon heat, and Swift waits in the shade with his eyes fixed on a dust cloud between sand-hills. The coach is still half an hour away, yet Mr Luttrell's telegram has already dismissed me in my thoughts. You step into this one-chapter preview with Swift at the center, where choices turn on the people, promises, and pressure already in the room. Tomorrow is an unreliable word, Jack. The chapter closes on a continuation question rather than resolving the novel's larger arc.
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