Page 36 - English Expedition Class 4

‘No, you didn’t,’ said Peter.
‘Yes, we did,’ said Bobbie. ‘We knew all
the time.’
‘Don’t hold me!’ Peter said. ‘I won’t run

away.’
The station master loosened Peter’s
collar, struck a match and looked at them
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by its flickering light.
‘Why,’ he said, ‘you’re the children from
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the Three Chimneys up the hill. So nicely
dressed, too! Tell me now, what made you
do such a thing? Haven’t you ever been to

church or learnt that it’s wicked to steal?’
He spoke much more gently now.
Peter said, ‘I didn’t think it was stealing.
I was almost sure it wasn’t. I thought if I

took it from the outside part of the heap,
perhaps it would have been stealing. But in the middle I thought I could fairly count
it only mining.’
‘Not quite. But did you do it for fun or what?’
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‘Not much fun carting that heavy stuff up the hill,’ said Peter, resentfully .

‘Then why did you?’The station master’s voice was so much kinder now that Peter
replied, ‘You know that wet day? Well, Mother said that we were too poor to have a
fire. We always had fires when it was cold at our other house, and –’

‘Well,’ said the station master rubbing his chin thoughtfully, ‘I’ll tell you what I’ll
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do. I’ll look over it for now. But you remember, young gentleman, stealing is stealing
and what’s mine isn’t yours, whether you call it mining or whether you don’t. Run
along home.’

‘Do you mean you aren’t going to do anything to us? Well, you are a good fellow,’
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said Peter, with enthusiasm .
‘You’re a dear,’ said Bobbie.
‘You’re a darling,’ said Phyllis.

‘That’s all right,’ said the station master.
On this note they parted and the children went back home.
E. Nesbit (adapted)

15 17
fl ickering: unsteady resentfully: with bitter feeling on being cheated or
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Three Chimneys: name of the house where the three treated unfairly
children stayed 18 look over: ignore
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enthusiasm: a feeling of excitement
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