Cornelius Trout watched from the organ balcony upstairs, awaiting his cue from Miss Reedy, who always gave him a nod when the staff were gathered at the assembly-hall door. It was his prompt to commence the processional and the first song of the day. When the microphone crackled to life, he swivelled his head and was shocked to find the headmistress and her entourage already on stage.

Having spent the best part of an hour with Caprice and Alice-Miranda the night before, Ophelia Grimm was determined that this was going to be the end of the drama and, frankly, she just wanted to get the whole thing over and done with. ‘Girls,’ she began, ‘I am pleased to report that the issue of the trespasser has been resolved and you have absolutely nothing to worry about.’ She cast a glare in Caprice’s direction. ‘The fire was an unfortunate accident and, as I said yesterday, we must be thankful that no one was hurt. I’d ask that we now lay this incident to rest and I will have no further speculation about blame. We all make mistakes, and something that warms my heart is when people are mature enough to own up to them. Rest assured that there will be consequences for the girl responsible.’

Wild whispers filled the air until a stern tap from the headmistress’s foot silenced them as swiftly as they had begun.

‘Now,’ Miss Grimm continued, ‘I have some exciting news about the dog show and what is in store for us over the coming weeks. I hadn’t quite realised the enormity of the event but I’m looking forward to everyone pitching in to help.’

Livinia Reedy’s eye twitched. Despite the headmistress’s assurances that the dog show would be over before the wedding began, she was nervous. These things were unpredictable and she would have much preferred to have the day to herself. At least Ophelia had agreed to her request that Chudleigh’s not be allowed to use the dining room or the chapel and that she and Josiah would not, under any circumstances, be on duty that day.

Ophelia Grimm was feeling somewhat overwhelmed herself, having been presented with the list of demands from Mrs Parker the previous evening. She had been livid upon discovering that Professor Winterbottom hadn’t committed the boys to assist with the show until after being told Ophelia had already agreed to do so. When confronted about this, Myrtle replied that it surely didn’t matter who’d offered to help first and that it was heartwarming to know both schools were so willing to be part of what was to be a monumental occasion. ‘Monumental’ seemed appropriate, but ‘monstrous’ was the word that kept flashing through Ophelia’s mind.

Sloane raised her hand in the air.

The headmistress looked over and nodded. ‘Yes, Sloane?’

‘What happened to the puppy?’ the girl asked.

‘Mrs Derby is looking after him until Dr Davidson returns from his holidays,’ Ophelia replied. ‘And we’ll be assigning some girls to put up posters of him around the village.’ Onstage, sitting beside the Head Prefect, Livinia Reedy pursed her lips. The last thing they needed was a puppy to take care of as well as everything else that was going on.

‘What if no one claims him?’ Millie asked.

‘I imagine we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,’ the woman replied.

‘Could we keep him, Miss Grimm?’ Mia said. ‘It would be lovely to have a school dog and we could all help to look after him.’

There was a murmur of agreement through the hall.

‘Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, girls. We must do our best to find the puppy’s owner. If no one comes forward after a reasonable amount of time, then I will think about it,’ the woman said.

‘Yes!’ the girls hissed while fists pumped around the room.

Alice-Miranda nudged Millie. ‘Miss Grimm thought he was adorable.’

‘Caprice will probably still think he belongs to her because she found him,’ Millie grumbled.

‘I can’t imagine it,’ Alice-Miranda replied. She had watched the girl’s torturous exchange with the headmistress the night before, followed by Con stable Derby giving Caprice a stern talking-to about wasting police resources. ‘I suspect she might lay low for a little while.’

Caprice was sitting further along the row, her back straight like a soldier, looking as if there were a thousand things and nothing going through her head.

‘I wonder if Miss Grimm is going to let me off gardening duty,’ Millie whispered.

Alice-Miranda shrugged. ‘I’m not sure. Caprice didn’t own up to having planted the paint bombs.’

‘I suppose that would have been too much to hope for,’ Millie said. ‘What’s her punishment?’

The headmistress’s voice boomed into the microphone. ‘What matters is that the puppy is being properly cared for. Now, girls, I’m going to put volunteer sheets up on the noticeboard outside the dining room at morning tea time. There are lots of different things you can help with, so please make sure that you add your name to at least three different activities and we’ll announce after school which of those you’ll be assisting with.’

‘Tell me later,’ Millie mouthed.

Alice-Miranda wasn’t sure if she should divulge the girl’s punishment, seeing as though it required Millie and Caprice to work together over the weekend. It sounded like Caprice was going to be busy every weekend for the rest of the term. Miss Grimm’s first reaction had been to ban her from competing in the National Eisteddfod, which Caprice had begged her to reconsider. In the end, the pair had come to an agreement involving considerable garden duties and mucking out the stables under Charlie’s strict supervision. There was no weekend television and no outings either, so she was pretty much under lock and key. When Miss Grimm told the girl that her parents would have to be informed, Alice-Miranda thought the exchange would descend into chaos, but surprisingly Caprice didn’t object too loudly.

‘I hope Miss Grimm’s got a pooper-scooper group. I’ll be putting Caprice’s name at the top of that list,’ Millie said, grinning slyly.

Alice-Miranda smiled. ‘No, you won’t.’

Millie rolled her eyes. ‘But you know I want to.’