"Where is it? anywhere in reach?"
"It is in the bottom of my desk in the schoolroom, sir."
"Go and fetch it, that we may examine it and fairly test your abilities," commanded the master.
Ishmael left the drawing-room, and after an absence of a few minutes returned with a neatly folded paper, which he handed to Mr. Middleton.
That gentleman unfolded and looked at it. A very cursory examination served to prove the great superiority of this copy over the original one. Mr. Middleton refolded it, and, looking steadily and almost sternly into Ishmael's face, inquired:
"Was the rough draft sent to the examiners, instead of this fair copy, through any inadvertence of yours? Answer me truly."
"No, sir," replied Ishmael, looking down.
"It was done knowingly, then?"
"Yes, sir."
"For what purpose, may I ask you, did you suppress the fair copy, which most assuredly must have won you the watch, and substitute this rough draft, that as certainly must have lost it?"