Answer:
C. that the sliver of paper came from a dollar bill.
Step-by-step explanation:
Object Lessons by Ellery Queen is a short story about a detective work that the author did for a school teacher when she lost "seven one-dollar bills" in her own classroom. The story deals with juvenile crimes committed by three young boys and their teacher's refusal to let them be given straight to the authorities without a second chance.
From the given excerpt, we can know that Ellery had discovered "needle-thin sliver of paper about an inch long, a sort of paper shaving". He then realized that it must have been from the original piece of item that the culprit used to make a cut out on the fake paper so that the size will be the exact same size with the replaced dollar bill. The inference that Ellery is making at this point is that the sliver of paper came from the dollar bill that was used to make a cut out from the book or paper to replace the stolen money.
Thus, the correct answer is option C.