Practical, unassuming Jane Shoringfield has done the calculations, and decided thatthe most secure path forward is this: a husband, in a marriage of convenience, whowill allow her to remain independent and occupied with meaningful work. Her firstchoice, the dashing but reclusive doctor Augustine Lawrence, agrees to her proposalwith only one condition: that she must never visit Lindridge Hall, his crumblingfamily manor outside of town.
