"Get your camphor bottle ready. I'm going to let you down easy, but you had better be prepared. Corny, your school's gone. You won't teach in the Hodgkins district this year, I can tell you right now."
"What do you mean?"
"Just what I said."
"Did the schoolhouse burn up?"
"Worse'n that."
"Have they hired another teacher?"
"Worse yet."
"Come, Tom, tell us," besought Mrs. Brown.
"He's fooling!" declared Sally.
"No, sir, I mean what I say," insisted Tom. "Corny's school has gone, bag and baggage."