"What did you think of the blackboard, Oscar? Do you suppose you should know it again, if you should happen to see it?"
"What do you mean?" he inquired, feigning ignorance.
"O, you 've forgotten it a'ready, have you?" continued Ralph. "You don't remember seeing anything of a blackboard this afternoon, do you?"
"But who told you about it?" inquired Oscar; for though both attended the same school, their places were in different rooms.
"O, I know what's going on," said Ralph; "you need n't try to be so secret about it."
"Well, I know who told you about it—'t was Bill Davenport, was n't it?" inquired Oscar.
Willie and Ralph were such great cronies, that Oscar's supposition was a very natural one. Indeed, Ralph could not deny it without telling a falsehood, and so he made no reply. Oscar, perceiving he had guessed right, added, in a contemptuous tone:
"The little, sneaking tell-tale—I 'll give him a good pounding for that, the first time I catch him."
"You 're too bad, Oscar," interposed his brother; "Willie did n't suppose you cared anything about standing before the blackboard—he only spoke of it because he thought it was something queer."
Seeing Oscar was in so unamiable a mood, Ralph said nothing more about the subject, at that time.