If Mr. Downing recollects,
he did not look long at the shoe. The picture on the retina of the eye,
consequently, had not time to fade. I remember thinking myself, at the
moment, that the shoe appeared to have a certain reddish tint. The
mistake...."
"Bag!" said Mr. Downing shortly.
"Well, really," said the headmaster, "it seems to me that that is the
only explanation that will square with the facts. A shoe that is really
smeared with red paint does not become black of itself in the course of
a few minutes."
"You are very right, sir," said Psmith with benevolent approval. "May I
go now, sir? I am in the middle of a singularly impressive passage of
Cicero's speech _De senectute_."
"I am sorry that you should leave your preparation till Sunday, Smith.
It is a habit of which I altogether disapprove."
"I am reading it, sir," said Psmith, with simple dignity, "for pleasure.
Shall I take the shoe with me, sir?"
"If Mr. Downing does not want it?"
The housemaster passed the fraudulent piece of evidence to Psmith
without a word, and the latter, having included both masters in a kindly
smile, left the garden.
Pedestrians who had the good fortune to be passing along the road
between the headmaster's house and Mr.
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