Chapter 20
March 1896
Nothing is but what is not.
I.iii
Concordia and her mother were preparing for yet another round of condolence calls. They had received more calls in this past week than Concordia had in the last two years. She had forgotten how insulated the college environment was in comparison with the rest of society; at Hartford Women’s College, it was inclination, rather than necessity, that would prompt one to stir outside the campus gates.
Most of the callers were her mother’s friends, an irksome assemblage, who seemed to delight in commenting upon the unseemliness of Concordia’s vocation. Many of them embraced the misconception that women’s colleges were a veritable breeding ground for anarchists and liberals.
“I wonder at you, Letitia, allowing your daughter to conso
