None of these measures was dramatic.

They were the kind of unglamorous maintenance I had neglected while chasing larger acquisitions.

Meredith later told me Alice had been offered a place in a professional accounting course.

She had accepted, with the factory adjusting her schedule so she could attend.

“She doesn’t want praise,” Meredith said.

“She wants to know the next person who notices something wrong will be taken seriously.”

We drove to Greensboro for a small event celebrating the training program’s first participants.