Flora Gray narrates from her diary to Molly, revealing that Mr. Preston, the Regency Grand doorman, was central to her early life and will prove important to Molly as well. She brings Molly back to the day of the Braun Summit at Gray Manor, when Magnus Braun would determine the Grays’ fate. The manor bristled with chaos as Uncle Willy hired townspeople to pose as staff; Mrs. Mead struggled to train them, and even driving and kitchen duties were bungled.

Reginald Gray held grim strategy sessions with his board as their collapse loomed. Audrey Gray, masking fear with vodka, told Flora there was not enough money to stave off ruin and dismissed hopes of mercy from Magnus. Flora also fixated on Uncle Willy’s son, John Preston, who had been pulled from school to serve as a temporary footman; Flora masked conflicted feelings with disdain, publicly criticizing his service and trading barbs with him at dinner.

At school on the summit day, Flora learned John had earned the top grade on their Romeo and Juliet essay, while she placed second. Returning to the manor, she delivered the news to John in the foyer, where he teased her and mentioned completing an assignment on Aesop’s fables, specifically “The Lion and the Mouse.” Flora, irritated yet needing the text, demanded the return of her father’s copy.

Flora changed from her school uniform into a green dress and joined the servants’ receiving line for the summit. In the boardroom, Magnus Braun, confident and modern, contrasted with Reginald Gray and his rigid directors. Magnus announced that Braun Financial had already purchased Gray Investments outright that morning, rendering signatures a mere formality and effectively terminating the Grays’ firm. Reginald pleaded for another path; Magnus dismissed him, noting the Grays had failed to produce new assets of value.

John and another footman slipped in, and John slipped Aesop’s fables to Flora, drawing Magnus’s attention. He singled Flora out of the receiving line, questioning her presence and the book she held. Despite her father ordering her to leave, Flora engaged Magnus, applying the fable of the lion and the mouse to warn that the mighty fall when they underestimate others. Magnus, amused and intrigued, confirmed her identity and asked about her future.

Overriding Reginald’s hesitation about university, Magnus compared their families, saying he had one child, a son named Algernon, and proposed that Flora meet him. Audrey eagerly agreed on Flora’s behalf; Flora consented politely. Magnus accepted an invitation to the Workers’ Ball, suggested bringing Algernon, and then offered Flora his Cartier pen as “a gift for the scholar,” saying the papers could wait.

Magnus ended the meeting with a clap, his directors rose and left with him, and he promised to see them at the ball. The chapter closed with the Grays’ company effectively ended, Flora unexpectedly noticed by their conqueror, and a new social entanglement set for the upcoming ball.