“Oh, there were some things I didn’t know and others that I just made a stab at. But I’m pretty sure I killed it. And I had an extra half-hour practicing in the gym while you poor guys were writing away.”
David thought no more of the episode. Two days later, after the Latin recitation, Mr. Dean returned to the boys their examination books, with marks showing their rating. A was the highest mark attainable, E meant failure. David, well pleased at seeing the large A in red ink on the cover of his book, walked slowly down the corridor, turning over the pages. Monroe joined him, happy at being awarded a B, and they descended the stairs together and stood outside the door of their building comparing their books. Suddenly Wallace burst out upon them; they looked up, startled by his flaming, angry face.
“What do you think of that?” he cried and thrust his examination book under their eyes. His hand shook in his rage. “See what that old fossil’s done to me!”
The letter E adorned the cover, and under it was written: “I have hesitated over this mark. In ordinary circumstances I might have given such work as this D; it is poor enough at best, but it is not wholly bad. Had you chosen to exert your mind to the utmost during the full examination period, you would unquestionably have passed; because you did not choose to do this, I mark you E.”
“A dirty trick!” exclaimed Monroe. “He admits you wrote a paper good enough to pass you, and then he turns round and gives you E!”
“How does he know what I might have done if I’d stayed through the hour!” Lester turned irately upon David. “Well, what do you think of your friend now, Dave?”
David looked troubled. “It does seem pretty rough. But I suppose Mr. Dean thought that was the only way of making you work.”
“Making me work!” Wallace’s eyes flashed more angrily than ever. “I did enough work to pass; he admits it. That’s all I want. I’m not a grind, like you; I don’t have to be. I don’t want to get A’s like you; I don’t have to. Fooling round old Dean so much has turned you into a prig.”
He walked rapidly away and left both David and Monroe to an uncomfortable silence. David felt hurt; that Lester should take a fling at his necessity was unkind. He sympathized with Lester, but he sympathized with Mr. Dean, too. He said to Monroe, “Mr. Dean’s not trying to be nasty; he’s just trying to keep Lester headed straight.”
“If Lester’s paper was good enough to pass him, he ought to have passed,” replied Monroe obstinately.