“Don’t speak to me like that,” commanded Miss Mason. “Do you know how the ink got on this book, Robert?”
Bobby was silent. Meg looked worried.
“Robert, do you hear me? I am asking you if you know how this book was defaced?”
Bobby’s blue eyes shot out a few sparks equal to those in Miss Mason’s eyes.
“You know I don’t!” he retorted, not at all respectfully. 82
Bobby had been taught to love books at home and to handle them carefully. He was hurt and astonished that any one should think he would deliberately ruin a beautiful book, and he forgot that Miss Mason couldn’t know him as well as Father and Mother Blossom did. They would never suspect him of harming a book.
“If this is your idea of getting even for the arithmetic lesson this morning, all I can say is that you’ve chosen a very underhanded method,” declared Miss Mason, evidently determined to believe the worst.
“I never touched the book,” insisted Bobby hotly.