[ {"chunk":135,"story":10,"summary":"At a crowded family breakfast, a poor widow living with her sister's family gets a letter and reads it so slowly that the others nearly burst with impatience.","predicament":"Someone given news that might change their life cannot take it in, while the people around them itch to know."}, {"chunk":136,"story":10,"summary":"The widow fears the letter is a hoax; her brother-in-law thinks so too, until her sister reads it and rejoices.","predicament":"Someone who has never had luck is told of a windfall and is afraid to believe it."}, {"chunk":137,"story":10,"summary":"The widow has inherited two thousand pounds from a former employer; the brother-in-law grumbles that nobody ever left him anything, and spreads the news through the town.","predicament":"A man sees a relative come into money and resents that luck never comes his way."}, {"chunk":138,"story":10,"summary":"Local men suddenly befriend the brother-in-law; his wife points out that two old dealers are courting the heiress for her money.","predicament":"A man flattered by new friends is told they are really after a relative's money."}, {"chunk":139,"story":10,"summary":"The brother-in-law watches the two suitors flatter the widow and tries to undercut them by announcing her age, nearly giving away his wife's.","predicament":"A man trying to expose flattering suitors trips over his own family's sensibilities."}, {"chunk":140,"story":10,"summary":"The suitors outbid each other with compliments; the wife's temper frays, and the visitors are shown out with the door shut hard.","predicament":"Two rivals courting the same person keep topping each other's compliments while the family grows fed up."}, {"chunk":141,"story":10,"summary":"The family, wanting to keep the money, fail to warn the widow; the slow dealer, losing ground to his glib rival, hatches a plan and enlists a small-time dealer.","predicament":"A slow-talking man losing a contest to a glib rival looks for a trick instead of better words."}, {"chunk":142,"story":10,"summary":"The dealer bribes an accomplice, who holds out for a bigger fee, to tell the rival in confidence that the widow has lost her fortune; the rival swallows it.","predicament":"A man hires someone to spread a false rumour that will drive off his rival, and the hireling drives a hard bargain."}, {"chunk":143,"story":10,"summary":"With the rival gone, the dealer courts the widow alone, preaching the virtues of poverty, and loses seven games of draughts to her on purpose.","predicament":"A man courting for money pretends not to care about it and flatters the one he courts by letting her win."}, {"chunk":144,"story":10,"summary":"He blows her kisses and fusses over a bumped head, invites himself back, and walks home sure the money is his.","predicament":"A schemer who thinks his deal is done walks away gloating too soon."}, {"chunk":145,"story":10,"summary":"He spreads the rumour of her ruin through the town, then proposes publicly 'now that she is poor', to look noble.","predicament":"A man makes a public show of selfless devotion, sure that it will cost him nothing."}, {"chunk":146,"story":10,"summary":"She accepts; the family, touched, apologise for misjudging him, then mention a letter that arrived.","predicament":"A schemer whose plan has worked is thanked for his goodness while the ground starts to shift under him."}, {"chunk":147,"story":10,"summary":"The lawyers' letter says a later will was found and she has nothing; the dealer, now engaged to a poor woman, is left alone with her to court.","predicament":"A man who faked a disaster to win a prize learns the disaster is real, and he is bound to his promise."} ]