Mary Wilson in the front seat held out a bag of sweets to me. I took one.
"Please, sir, would the gentleman like one, too?"
Simpson took one with the air of a man on holiday who doesn't care what sins he commits.
"I say," he whispered, "do you let them eat in school? There's a boy in the back seat eating nuts."
I fixed Ralph Ritchie with my eye.
"Ralph! If you throw any nutshells on that floor Mrs. Findlay will eat you."
"I'm putting them in my pooch," he said.
"Good! Write down this sum."
"What are the others doing?" asked Simpson after a time.
"Margaret Steel and Violet Brown are reading," I said promptly. "Annie Dixon is playing fivies on the sand, Jack White and Bob Tosh are most likely arguing about horses, but the other boys are reading, we'll go and see." And together we walked down the road.