Miss Stricken cruised into the room late one afternoon, took the stack of 
completed pages from Nell's desk, flipped through them, and allowed her chin to 
decline by a few minutes of arc. This nearly imperceptible vestige of a nod was 
her way of saying that Nell was dismissed for the day. Nell had come to 
understand that one way for Miss Stricken to emphasize her power over the girls 
was for her to make her
wishes known through the subtlest possible signs, so that her charges were 
forced to watch her anxiously at all times.