the boy to
follow him. The boy shoved his feet into his goloshes, pulled on his
baa-baa coat, and, his face white and strained, marched down the aisle.
The proctor spoke a few words to him at the door. He nodded, opened the
door, left the gymnasium--and five hours later the college.

Thus the college for ten days: the better students moderately calm, the
others cramming information into aching heads, drinking unbelievable
quantities of coffee, sitting up, many of them, all night, attending
seminars or tutoring sessions, working for long hours in the library,
finally taking the examination, only to start a new nerve-racking grind
in preparation for the next one.

If a student failed in a course, he received a "flunk notice" from the
registrar's office within four days after the examination, so that four
days after the last examination every student knew whether he had passed
his courses or not. All those who failed to pass three courses were, as
the students put it, "flunked out," or as the registrar put it, "their
connection with the college was severed." Some of the flunkees took the
news very casually, packed their trunks, sold their furniture, and
departed; others frankly wept or hastened to their instructors to plead
vainly that their grades be raised: all of them were required to leave
Haydensville at once.

Hugh passed all of his courses but without distinction. His B in
trigonometry did not give him great satisfaction inasmuch as he had
received an A in exactly the same course in high school; nor was he
particularly proud of his B in English, since he knew that with a
little effort he could have "pulled" an A. The remainder of his grades
were C's and D's, mostly D's. He felt almost as much ashamed as Freddy
Dickson, who somehow hadn't "got going" and had been flunked out. Carl
received nothing less than a C, and his record made Hugh more ashamed of
his own. Carl never seemed to study, but he hadn't disgraced himself.

Hugh spent many bitter hours thinking about his record. What would his
folks think? Worse, what would they _say?_ Finally he wrote to them:

Dear Mother and Dad:

I have just found out my grades. I think that they will
be sent to you later. Well, I didn't flunk out but my
record isn't so hot. Only two of my grades are any good.
I got a B in English and Math but the others are all C's
and D's. I know that you will be ashamed of me and I'm
a