When Tom Howard was seventeen years old he was as tall as his father, so he began to borrow¹ Mr. Howard's clothes when he wanted to go out with his friends in the evening.

Mr. Howard did² not like this, and he always got³ very angry when he found⁴ his son wearing any of his things.

One evening when Tom came⁵ downstairs⁶ to go out, his father stopped him in the hall. He looked at Tom's clothes very carefully⁷.

Then he said⁸ angrily, "Isn't that one of my ties, Tom?"

"Yes, Father, it is," answered Tom.

"And that shirt's mine too."

"Yes, that's yours too," answered Tom.

"And you're wearing my belt⁹!" said Mr. Howard.

"Yes, I am, Father," answered Tom. "You don't want your trousers to fall down, do you?"