The news that Lily had been fatally attacked in her own home, and was presumed dead, reached Margaret two days later when she was having lunch. Margaret felt stunned, as if someone had hit her with a club, but not managed to render her unconscious (it had happened before, so she knew exactly how it felt). She could not believe that it was true. Who on earth would want to kill Lily, the most timid and loving person in existence? It is inexplicable.
Thereafter, Margaret wandered around the mansion feeling as empty as the hollow armours that were scattered throughout her new home. Her afternoons stretched on endlessly, bare of Lily's presence, Lily's companionship. She had absolutely no idea what she would do with herself now that she had lost the only person she had loved so intensely.
Th
