By the third day, nearly all of the freshmen had recovered their gloves. Peace was once again restored in the cottages, without the horses being traumatized this year.
The single gloveless exception was Willow Cottage’s Miss Carey. Concordia strongly suspected Miss Smedley had something to do with that. She had noticed glances exchanged between Alison Smedley and her sophomore cohorts each morning before chapel, as if enjoying a private triumph.
Concordia could have lent Miss Carey a pair of her own gloves, but that wouldn’t solve the bigger problem. She had an idea. That afternoon, when Miss Smedley was out of the cottage, she called Miss Lovelace to her quarters.
“Yes, Miss Wells?” Maisie Lovelace sat primly in the hardback chair, her hands neatly folded in her lap.
“Does Alison Smed
