bluntly asked him, before the professor and the class, how old he
was. In telling me, he said he had the feeling that if the Jap
could have done so in that instant, he would have killed him. He
said he was nineteen, but Donald says from the matured lines of
his body, from his hands and his face and his hair, he is certain
that he is thirty or more, and he thinks it very probable that he
may have graduated at home before he came here to get his English
for nothing from our public schools. I never before had the fact
called to my attention that this was being done, but Donald told
me that he had been in classes with matured men when he was less
than ten years of age. That is not fair, Judge Whiting; it is
not right. There should be an age specified above which people
may not be allowed to attend public school."

"I quite agree with you," said the Judge. "That has been done in
the grades, but there is nothing fair in bringing a boy under
twenty in competition with a man graduated from the institutions
of another country, even in the high schools. If this be the
case--"

"You can be certain that it is," said Linda, "because Donald
whispered to me as he passed me half an hour ago, coming from the
school building, that TODAY Oka Sayye's hair is a uniform,
shining black, and he also thought that he had used a lipstick
and rouge in an effort at rejuvenation. Do you think, from your
knowledge of Donald, that he would imagine that?"

"No," said Judge Whiting, "I don't think such a thing would occur
to him unless he saw it."