“No,” snapped Miss Jones. She found William and the heat (William particularly) rather trying.
“It’s ‘no’ and ‘not.’ And an affirmative is ‘yes.’”
“Oh,” said William politely.
“So two ‘nos’ and ‘nots’ mean ‘yes,’ if they’re in the same sentence. If you said ‘There’s not no money in the box’ you mean there is.”
William considered.
He said “Oh” again.
Then he seemed suddenly to become intelligent.
“Then,” he said, “if you say ‘no’ and ‘not’ in the same sentence does it mean ‘yes’?”
“Certainly.”
William smiled.