more of chapter II (but very little more)

though it still hurt not to move, remaining fixed seemed the best possibility.

"You will have to contact your next of kin," Mrs Knowlton said, "we do not know your mother well enough to do it ourselves."

"Of course," Anna said, rubbing her tight sleeves together, "I'll send the letters out straight away. But I must thank you --"

"No," Mrs. Knowlton said, waving an imperious arm at her, "It is nothing for us to keep you here. Though your mother -- though we didn't know her well -- we knew you since you were a child and, of course, Edwin--"

At the mention of his name Anna felt a keen pressure in her head and had to rub it. Mrs. Knowlton chose to ignore her distress and continued to say that Edwin had enjoyed her company since she was younger and that he knew fewer other friends than she might have liked because of Anna's company. To this, Anna had to smile; though the accusation was harsh, it was not untrue.

"But you will write your next of kin," Mrs. Knowlton said, and the manner by which she twisted her dyed shawls led the color to bleed into her palms. "And these people can advise you (much better than I can) what you can do next. Chase may help you with a solicitor, if you wish, to accompany you to a reading of a will."

"No!" cried Anna, "I have no wish to -- I mean, no. My mother's estate will be settled upon, but I don't want a part of it."

Mrs. Knowlton put her needlepoint down on the sofa and her gaze felt like a thirty-minute full examination of her body. "Not want part of your mother's estate?" Mrs. Knowlton asked, "What kind of claim is that?"