“What are you busy about, Tom?” he asked.
He looked up suddenly, and then rose out of respect to his master. “I was copying out an example my teacher sent me,” he said.
“Is that your writing? Let me see it.” He reached for the paper on which Tom had been working, and eyed it narrowly.
“Would you like to see my teacher’s letter, sir?” he asked.
“Yes, I should,” he replied; so Tom produced it, and it was read very attentively. “How long did you go to school?” he asked, as he finished it and laid it back into Tom’s hand.
“Two years, sir.”
“And can you do all those examples your teacher has given you?”
“I think so, sir. I am trying them now.”
“Is this the way you always pass your noon-time rest?”
“Yes, sir,” replied Tom.