Editing Quartet in Autumn (section)

==Plot summary==
Marcia, Letty, Norman and Edwin work in the same office and are nearing retirement age. Three of them have never married and Edwin is now a [[widow]]er. When the two women eventually retire, Letty plans to move to the country and live with her long-time friend Marjorie, a widow. She has to change her plans, however, when Marjorie announces that she is to marry a clergyman some years younger than herself. Norman lives a solitary life and is given to sardonic and bitter comments, although he once aroused the interest of Marcia in the past. Edwin is the more sociable man and fills his time outside work with visiting the various [[high church]]es in his neighbourhood.

The house in which Letty has a [[bedsit]] is sold to the leader of a Nigerian [[Charismatic movement|charismatic]] [[house church]] and she no longer feels comfortable there. Edwin finds her a room in the house of an elderly church-going widow, where she is reasonably at home and rather sceptically attends services with Mrs Pope as a result. 

Once the two women retire, Marcia, already reclusive and vulnerable after having a breast removed, has to deal with the loss of the routine that was an essential part of her life. She withdraws even further from the outside world, eating less and less, and only begrudgingly allows visits from Janice Brabner, the voluntary social worker assigned by the local senior citizens' centre to keep in contact with her. Eventually Janice discovers Marcia in a state of collapse at the same time that Edwin and his friend, the parish priest Father G, come visiting. She is taken to hospital but dies a few days later, weighing six stone. Then it is discovered that she has unexpectedly left her house to Norman, who calls in his former colleagues to help him plan what to do with it.

A final development comes when Marjorie's fiancé deserts her for the younger and more capable Beth Doughty, warden of the retirement home to which Marjorie had unavailingly tried to persuade Letty to move. In the circumstances, Letty is not so sure she wants to live in the country and does not immediately make up her mind. She realises that at last she has opportunities to make her own choices. Similarly, Norman enjoys being in a position to decide whether or not to live in Marcia's house, though he is inclined to sell it.

At the end of the book, Letty tells Norman and Edwin that Marjorie has invited the three of them to join her for a day in the country. She thinks this would be a consolation for the jilted Marjorie and, though she envisages no romantic developments, enjoys being in a position to supply some male company.