initials. "This is what your school is making possible," she said. "The girls have learned to mark their names. We owe them the honesty to put the right amount beside each one."
After the guests dispersed, Nathaniel found Nora in the orangery, standing beside a row of lemon trees that smelled faintly of summer despite the cold beyond the glass. Her hands had begun to shake at last. She tucked them beneath her elbows, ashamed of the delayed reaction. He stopped a respectful distance away. "Mr. Bell says he can begin examining the bank papers tomorrow," he told her. "I have asked that you and one of the schoolmistresses be present when the trustees hear his findings." Nora turned. "You have asked?" He corrected himself. "I have insisted on it, and I will make the request in writing."
The days that followed were less splendid than the ball and far more difficult. Bankers were asked to produce copies of payment orders; merchants compared their accounts; the trustees heard statements from apprentices and school employees. Mr. Prowse attempted to blame a clerk, then a dressmaker, then Cecily herself. But the pattern of payments and false receipts steadily narrowed his defenses. Cecily's signature appeared on orders she could not plausibly have misunderstood. Eventually her family's solicitor arranged for the return of the diverted sums while the wider question of liability was considered by the proper authorities. No single evening restored justice. It took weeks of dull, exacting work.
Elspeth left Cecily's service after giving her account to the solicitor. Lady Honoria found her a position at Westridge, and her brother was offered work in the estate's stables. When Elspeth came to thank Nora, she confessed that she had feared no one would believe a maid. Nora told her that courage meant little unless people with power made room for it.
At Bellwick, coal finally arrived in carts that left deep ruts through the schoolyard. The apprentices received the wages that could be documented, and a separate fund was created for disputed work until their claims could be settled. The trustees appointed a schoolmistress, two parents, and an independent bookkeeper to review future expenditures. Nora insisted that the figures be read aloud each quarter for families who could not interpret the accounts themselves. Some members of the old committee called the arrangement unnecessary and untidy. Lady Honoria replied that a little untidiness was preferable to another beautifully presented fraud.
Nathaniel came to the school without announcing himself one wet Thursday. He found Nora on her knees beside a low desk, helping a child understand how to subtract one number from another. She looked up, saw the expensive boots marked with village mud, and almost laughed. The man who had once accepted quarterly reports without asking a question was carrying a crate of primers and a bundle of firewood receipts. He waited until the lesson ended before speaking. "I thought I ought to learn the place before attempting to direct it," he