Miss Arundel died on May 1st. Although her illness was brief, her death did not come as a great surprise to the small town of Market Basin where she had lived since she was sixteen. This was because Emily Arundel was over seventy, the last of five siblings, and it was known that her health had been fragile for several years. In fact, about eighteen months earlier, she had nearly died from a similar episode to the one that ultimately took her life.
However, although Miss Arundel's death surprised no one, there was something that caused a stir. The terms of her will sparked a storm of emotions: surprise, excitement, strong disapproval, anger, despair, fury, and a general tendency for gossip. For weeks—perhaps months—the whole of Market Basin talked only about this! Everyone had something to say on the matter, from Mr. Jones the grocer, who believed that "blood is thicker than water," to Mrs. Lamphrey at the post office, who kept saying, "Something suspicious is going on! Mark my words."
What made the rumors run wild was that the will was drawn up just on April 21st. And given that Emily Arundel’s close relatives had stayed with her only a few days earlier, during the Easter bank holiday, it is understandable that the most scandalous theories spread, offering a pleasant relief from the monotony of daily life in Market Basin.