human
I don't care if I do, he said defiantly.
gpt
It won't be my fault, but yours, and the rest of them.
human
You ought to be ashamed of yourself, the master said,
gpt
What is the matter now?
human
Reuben Whitney! What, in trouble again, Reuben? I am afraid you are a very troublesome boy.
gpt
I am not troublesome, ma'm, the boy said sturdily.
human
That is, I wouldn't be if they would let me alone; but everything that is done bad, they put it down to me.
gpt
But what have you been doing now, Reuben?
human
I have done nothing at all, ma'm; but he's always down on me, and he pointed to the master,
gpt
What has the boy been doing now, Mr. White?
human
Look there, ma'm, at those four windows all smashed, and the squire had all the broken panes mended only a fortnight ago.
gpt
How was it done, Mr. White?
human
By a big stone, ma'm, which caught the frame where they joined, and smashed them all.
gpt
I did not do it, Mrs. Ellison, indeed I didn't.
human
Why do you suppose it was Reuben?
gpt
Because I had kept him in, half an hour after the others went home to dinner, for pinching young Jones and making him call out; and he had only just gone out of the gate when I heard the smash; so there is no doubt about it, for all the others must have been in at their dinner at that time.
human
I didn't do it, ma'm, the boy repeated.
gpt
Directly I got out of the gate, I started off to run home. I hadn't gone not twenty yards when I heard a smash; but I wasn't going for to stop to see what it was. It weren't no business of mine, and that's all I know about it.
human
Mamma, the younger of the two girls said eagerly,
gpt
Do you know who it was, Kate?
human
Yes, mamma. It was Tom Thorne.
gpt
Is Thomas Thorne here?