“It’s the paper!”
“Oh, he had it after all!”
“How did it ever happen? I don’t believe he ever took it!”
“Isn’t it dreadful, girls?” this last from Emily Dodsworth, who had often tried to interest Frank Allen in her own simpering self, but without success.
Frank stood there, looking straight up into the eyes of the principal.
“This is indeed the missing examination paper. The unknown party to whom we are so heavily indebted certainly told the truth when he said it would be found in your pocket, Frank. Are you willing to answer me one question?”
“I will answer as many as you ask me, sir,” replied the boy, without quailing.
“Have you ever seen this paper before, Frank?”
“I give you my word for it, sir, that I never set eyes on it until I drew it out of my pocket just now. I don’t know how it got there, unless some fellow put it there for fun, or to injure me.”
A few smiled disdainfully. They were the ones who had always been envious of Frank Allen’s popularity in the school, and rejoiced to see him even temporarily under a cloud.