A Hazard of New Fortunes — Volume 2

In a modest New England home at the edge of winter, a widow and her daughter Alma sit together, the glow of a single lamp illuminating their quiet worries. Their conversation drifts between the chill outside, the looming threat of an empty furnace, and the fragile hope that a brighter future might still be within reach. The mother’s cautious nature clashes with Alma’s restless optimism, setting a tone of gentle tension that colors everyday life.

Alma, a talented sketcher with a vivid imagination, fills the house with the promise of artistic promise, while the household ekes out a living by taking in summer boarders. The arrival of a young, fashionable painter named Beaton, fresh from the city, offers the possibility of formal instruction and a path out of their modest circumstances. Yet the mother fears that unchecked ambition might jeopardize the fragile stability they have managed to maintain.