Page:Anna Chapin--Half a dozen boys.djvu/296

264 boys, so I went to work. I kind of suspected ’twas Jack; he’s a mean lad, anyhow. So yesterday I began to talk about Phil to him,  and he was very talky, said ’twas a mean shame and all that, but he never once looked  me in the eye. Thinks I, ‘I don’t believe you.’ Then I asked Miss Witherspoon to let me see the agate. It was a queer one, and after school I went the rounds of the stores, looking for  some like it. I found a whole lot at Smith’s, and they told me they had just come in new last week. I said I thought I would take one or two, and get the start of all the boys; but the clerk said I was too late, for Jack had bought some the other day. That clinched the matter, for they were different from any I ever  saw. I don’t believe Jack knew he had that one in his hand, or he wouldn’t have fired it. He’s too stingy. Well, to-night after school, I asked him if he wanted to swap marbles. He looked rather uncomfortable, and said he hadn’t had any since last spring. I asked him how about the ones he had just bought of Smith. He just turned all colors, and begged me not to tell, for he’d get a whipping, and another at