The stone on the sill
An original fiction passage set in the nineteenth century.
Mr Vale held up the grey stone for the whole class to see. Behind him, one pane of the schoolroom window was broken, and a cold draught stirred the pages on his desk. Small pieces of glass shone on the floorboards. Thomas Reed sat nearest to them, his face lowered and his hands pressed between his knees.
The stone had been found beside Thomas's boots. He was the newest boy in the school, and Mr Vale said that a confession would prevent the matter from becoming worse. When Thomas shook his head, Mr Vale opened the punishment book. No one spoke. Even the older pupils, who usually whispered whenever their master's back was turned, stared steadily at their slates.
Clara knew the stone. As the class monitor, she had dusted around it every morning for nearly a month. It had rested on the window sill to keep a pile of maps flat. Now the maps lay scattered beneath the desks, and a pale square showed where the stone had been.
She raised her hand, then lowered it when Mr Vale did not look towards her. He dipped his pen. Clara stood up.
"Sir, that stone was already inside the room."
Mr Vale stopped writing. He asked whether she meant to excuse damage to school property. Clara felt every face turn towards her, but she walked to the window and pointed to the clean mark on the dusty sill. She reminded him that the loose window had rattled throughout the previous afternoon. Then she placed the stone on the pale square. It fitted there exactly.
For a moment, Mr Vale said nothing. He pressed the window catch with one finger. The frame sprang towards him, and another flake of dried putty dropped onto the floor. He closed the punishment book and drew a line through Thomas's name. In the school record, he wrote that the window fastening must be repaired before the next storm.
Mr Vale did not apologise. He merely told Clara to gather the maps and instructed the class to continue its work. As she bent beneath the desks, Thomas caught her eye and silently formed the words, "Thank you." The stone remained on the master's desk for the rest of the day: no longer an accusation, but only a weight.
"Clara's decision to challenge Mr Vale is shown as courageous and worthwhile."
Evaluate how successfully the writer presents this view.
In your answer, you should consider:
Support your judgement with detailed references to the passage.
456 exam-style questions on Edexcel GCSE English Language 1.3 Content: prose fiction study requirements, covering 1.3.1 Read challenging prose fiction for the unseen 19th-century extract. Each one has a worked solution and a mark scheme showing where the marks go.