"Do you know your lesson?" you will ask him.
"Yes, sir," he will reply.
"But you can't say it."
"Please, sir, I forget it now."
Memory is his weak point. He has done his best, whatever the result may be. Last night he knew his lesson perfectly; the proof is that he said it to his mother, and that the excellent lady told him he knew it very well. Again this morning, as he was in the train coming to school, he repeated it to himself, and he did not make one mistake. He knows he didn't.
If he has done but two sentences of his home work, "he is afraid" he has not quite finished his exercise.
"But, my dear boy, you have written but two sentences."
"Is that all?" he will inquire.
"That is all."