"Elspeth," Nora said, "I know you were told to mend a dress. I am asking whether you were told to put the needle there." The maid stared down at her own hands. Cecily's voice became silkier. "Remember whose household employs you, girl." Nathaniel straightened. "She has been asked a question, Lady Cecily. She will be allowed to answer it." Elspeth's lips trembled. "I was told to make the blue gown impossible to wear," she whispered. "I was told to fasten the point inward so that she would leave before the dancing started."
Cecily went pale. "You foolish girl," she snapped. "That is not what I said." Elspeth's eyes filled with tears, but she did not withdraw the statement. "I thought she would feel it before it hurt her," she said. "I left the thread where she could see. I was frightened. My brother works in Lady Cecily's stables, and she said he would lose his place if I refused." Nora understood then why the stitching had been so conspicuous. Elspeth had obeyed just enough to conceal her attempt at warning. It did not excuse the danger, but it revealed another person trapped beneath Cecily's power.
Nathaniel took a clean handkerchief from his pocket and offered it to Nora for the needle. She folded the steel inside and gave it to him. "Please do not put this aside as a quarrel over a gown," she said. "Lady Cecily has already tried to discredit my account of the school. Tonight she has made her intentions plain." Cecily's cheeks flamed. "I will not stand here and be insulted by a dismissed teacher and a servant." She turned toward the door, expecting Nathaniel to follow. He did not. "Nor will Miss Fenwick be sent away because someone tried to injure her," he answered. Nathaniel sent for Lady Honoria and the housekeeper and asked the other ladies to preserve what they had seen.
Lady Honoria arrived with her walking stick striking the polished floor. She listened to Elspeth, inspected the needle wrapped in linen, and looked long and hard at her nephew. "Now, Nathaniel," she said, "do you understand why I asked you to see the school's papers yourself?" He nodded, ashamed. Nora expected the older woman to demand a public reckoning at once, but Lady Honoria was too experienced to mistake outrage for justice. "Lady Cecily will not address the school committee tonight," she said. "Mr. Prowse must bring his original ledgers to the library under the pretext of reviewing the annual report. We shall deal with the needle and the missing funds separately, though they may belong to the same scheme." She sent for Mr. Bell, the solicitor, to witness the examination.