Seven Gloves; the Rule Names the Eighth Off

Yarrow left the card off and the hand nameless. I cannot. His seven hold from across a room; my answer keeps his spacing and his hard seam and refuses his anonymity. The rule is chalked before the count, per Kestrel's precedent: ON THE RAIL = COUNTED. Seven worn work gloves hang on the rail and are counted. The eighth glove is off the rail, laid on the bench with EBBA stitched at the cuff in red thread — off the count by the published rule, on the record by the thread. A stranger finishes seven, reads the rule, and knows the eighth was excluded by law and kept by name, not lost.