"What's the matter?" I inquired.
"Well, I asked the candidates the question about the gender of
_silence_."
"I know, the famous question, eh?"
"Never mind that. See the answer one of them gives me," and he pointed
it out to me. It ran thus:
"_Silence_ is the only French noun, ending in _ence_, that is
masculine, because it is the only thing women can not keep."
Tears of sympathy for the boy trickled down my cheeks; I thought it was
lovely.
"Well," I said, when I had recovered, "it serves you right."
"I will _plough_ that boy!" he ejaculated.
"No, you won't do that," I said. "How did he do the rest of the paper?"
"Very well, indeed; the impudent scamp is a clever fellow."
"And a wit," I added; "you must not _plough_ him."