The Scandalous Sisterhood of Prickwillow Place by Julie Berry

her with hugs.
    “You did it!” Kitty exclaimed. “You made an examining doctor believe you were a sixty year-old woman!”
    “Sixty-two,” Alice laughed.
    There was another knock at the door. Stout Alice sighed. “I’ll go change. We’d best not push our luck with two impersonations.”
    “No, don’t,” Kitty said. “Stay. I want to see if this will work. Mary Jane, get the door, will you?”
    Mary Jane ushered Henry Butts into the parlor. Kitty watched him like a hawk to see if he spotted the counterfeit Mrs. Plackett.
    “Note for you, Ma’am,” he said, handing Stout Alice an envelope.
    “Thank you, young man,” the false Mrs. Plackett said. “Katherine. Be so good as to reward Master Butts’s helpfulness? I seem to have misplaced my change-purse.”
    Kitty fished in her pocket for a suitable coin for Henry, but that young gallant refused any payment. “No, thank you, Ma’am,” he said. “It was my pleasure.” He turned to go, then turned back. “Pardon me, Ma’am,” he ventured. “If I may ask…” He bit his lower lip.
    “Yes, Master Butts?” said Stout Alice. “What is it?”
    Henry blushed. His gaze roamed around the room until it rested upon Disgraceful Mary Jane. He took a deep breath, then addressed the supposed headmistress once more. “There’s a strawberry social Wednesday night at the parish. Will you be going?”
    “No,” Smooth Kitty said, while,
    “Yes,” Stout Alice said, and,
    “Absolutely,” Disgraceful Mary Jane said.
    Kitty and Mary Jane glared at each other.
    “We are going,” Alice said in Mrs. Plackett’s most commanding voice. “Such an opportunity to socialize with our neighbors is one not to be missed.”
    Kitty had no choice but to curtsey in deference to her headmistress for Henry’s benefit.
    Henry couldn’t hide his excitement. Disgraceful Mary Jane made matters worse by winking at him. He turned and bolted for the exit, colliding heavily with the doorway. At last the front door slammed shut behind him.
    “Well, Mrs. Plackett,” Smooth Kitty said with a touch of asperity, “I’m glad to hear you’re recovered enough from your shock and grief over young Julius to feel like venturing out into society.”
    Stout Alice plucked her widow’s headpiece off. “I’m not going as Mrs. Plackett,” she cried. “I can’t!” Her thoughts went racing to Leland Murphy, who had asked her specially if she was going. She hoped fervently that Smooth Kitty, whom Alice sometimes suspected of being a mind-reader, had no way to know it.
    “You’ve no choice,” Kitty replied. “You’ve committed us to attend the social, and it’s inconceivable that Mrs. Plackett would allow her charges out at an evening party unsupervised. Alice will have to remain home with a headache while Mrs. Plackett chaperones us.”
    A knot of keen disappointment welled up in Stout Alice’s bosom. She wanted to contradict Kitty—she must contradict her—but Alice saw in a terrible instant that she was right. Only as Mrs. Plackett could she attend the social. “I think I do have a headache,” she said. “It’s been a ghastly twelve hours. I’m going to go lie down.”
    Before Alice could leave the room, they heard a whining and a scratching noise at the rear door that led from the parlor straight out into the gardens. The door opened, and in shot a black and white dog, followed closely by Pocked Louise.
    “Is it safe to come in now?” she asked, pulling off her bonnet. “I planted our cherry tree, and watered it with a bucket from the pump. Aldous here wanted to dig the bodies right back up, didn’t you, you naughty boy?”
    She sank to her knees and kissed the puppy, which attacked her face with loving licks.
    “ Aldous ?” Disgraceful Mary Jane cried. “You named him after nasty Mr. Godding?”
    “I thought we wanted a bulldog to protect us, not a silly spaniel,” Stout Alice said.
    “Aldy’s not a silly…” Pocked Louise turned and noticed Alice’s costume for