The Squire's Last Chance

The squire slapped the boy out of his chair, then hauled him up from the floor and set him down again. It was a long evening. The answers would be wrong. At ten o'clock, the answers were still wrong. One more chance, he said. I'm going into the kitchen. When i come back, i'm going to ask you that lesson once more. You'd better know it. He went out of the room. As he sat in the chair, he thought he heard something. His ears were ringing from the blow that had floored him, but he heard words inside him. She was saying, if you can sleep a little, we can help you