"Aren't you modest!" grumbled Bobby. "I should think it would pain you."
"Now, don't you get saucy, Bobby," warned Lily. "You are not interested in this contest, that's sure."
"Huh!" cried Bobby. "I knew better than to try to write any such thing. If I won the prize nobody would believe that I wrote it."
"Oh, Bob," said Dora Lockwood. "You are too modest."
"Yes, sir—ree!" returned Bobby. "I know it. I am of the same modest and withdrawing nature as the turtle."
"The turtle?"
"Yep," said Bobby. "You know what the little boy said when he first went into the country? He came running to his father and says: 'Oh, Dad! what's this thing I found? When I poked it, it put its hands and feet in its pockets and swallowed its head!' Now, there can't be anything much more retiring than the turtle—or me."
The bell called them in for the final session then, and half an hour before closing time the signal from Mr. Sharp's office announced that the girls of all classes were to file to the Assembly hall and take their seats. On this occasion the boys were not present.
