"Yes!" I said with a nod of enlightenment.
The girls giggled, and Annie had to bite her lip to keep from laughing.
"Where have you been, sir?"
"Oh, no!" I cried, "at least I don't think so!"
Annie had to sit down and laugh.
"That's no fair," she said, "there shud be nae funnin' in the schule."
I sat down on the fender and pulled a face that Alfred Lester might have envied. Annie went into fits of laughter.
"Tell ye what, Annie," said Ellen, "we'll put the Mester oot, and we'll play oorsells," and I was dismissed the school. After deliberation they agreed to allow me to be an inspector provided I did not say anything.
When bairns play school they always put on the fine English. The teacher's main duty is to call erring pupils out and punish them.