“He is not. Don’t tell me.”
Squeers bounced into the dormitory, and, swinging his cane in the air ready for a blow, darted into the corner where Smike usually lay at night. The cane descended harmlessly. There was nobody there.
“What does this mean? Where have you hid him?”
“I have seen nothing of him since last night.”
“Come, you won’t save him this way. Where is he?”
“At the bottom of the nearest pond for anything I know.”
—Charles Dickens.
We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.