Preview: Part II, Chapter 9
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Start: It was a heavy mass of building, that chateau of Monsieur the Marquis
Stop after: Drive him fast to his tomb. This, from Jacques.
At the château, the Marquis receives an expected visitor for a private meeting about family power, inheritance, and responsibility. Their argument asks whether an old social order can claim obedience merely because it is old.
Polished courtesy barely conceals actual hostility. The stone faces decorating the house reinforce an atmosphere in which pride has hardened into something lifeless.