And (I'm not really replying to myself) Rowan is really isolated by this time. She is obviously annoyed at Karen keeping her so entirely in the dark about everything, but I can't imagine that she has done much confiding in Karen either. If she had written to her saying that she was really strugging with the farm, hating a lot of it, and only just coping with Mr Tranter, Karen would surely have hesitated a bit longer before asking Karen to boot the Tranters out of their home.