There was no longer any sound of shouting and laughter in the playground.

The boys walked about moody and sullen, working at their lessons.

They were fast becoming desperate.

No clue had been obtained as to the destroyer of the cat, and the schoolmaster declared that if it took him months to break their spirits he would do it.
Ned Sankey had said nothing at home as to his troubles.

His father noticed that he ran off again as soon as his dinner was over, and that he no longer said anything as to the sports in which he was engaged in playtime; also, that his lessons occupied him from tea time until he went up to bed.
"Anything is better than this," Ned said one day to some of the boys of his own age.