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Ursula was now silent He would not heed her if she answered,

since he had addressed the ," said Mr Harby, looking over

the silent class with a slight grin of fury All the childish

faces looked up at hio there were sixty pens for this

class--now there are forty-eight What is forty-eight from

sixty, Williams?" There was a sinister suspense in the question

A thin, ferret-faced boy in a sailor suit started up

exaggeratedly

"Please, sir!" he said Then a slow, sly grin came over his

face He did not know There was a tense silence The boy

dropped his head Then he looked up again, a little cunning

triumph in his eyes "Twelve," he said

"I would advise you to attend," said the headht from sixty is twelve: so there are twelve pens

to account for Have you looked for theain"

The scene dragged on Two pens were found: ten were , besides your dirt and bad work

and bad behaviour?" the head the worst-behaved and dirtiest class in the school, you

are thieves into the bargain, are you? It is a very funny thing!

Pens don'taway into nothing What has become of them then? They

must be somewhere What has become of them? For they must be

found, and found by Standard Five They were lost by Standard

Five, and they must be found"