glancing through it--is really very good. I don't mean that you have not
made mistakes of grammar, for you have, lots of them, but--er--you have
written a well-constructed and--er--well-expressed narrative. What
I--er--especially like about it is the subject. You have written of
something you know about, something close at home, so to say. I--er--I
am not much of a swimmer myself, but I presume that the instructions you
have laid down here are--er--quite correct. In fact, Edwards, I'll even
go so far as to say that I fancy one might take this composition of
yours and--er--really learn something about swimming. And--er--if you
have ever tried to learn anything of the sort--golf, rowing,
tennis--from a hand-book you will realise that that is high praise."

"Yes, sir. Thank you."

"I had decided to mark your composition with a B, Edwards. Perhaps the
many mistakes in grammar would ordinarily indicate a C, perhaps even a C
minus, but the--er--other merits of the exercise are so pronounced that,
on the whole, I think it deserves a B."

"Thank you, sir."

"Er--just a moment." The instructor held up a hand. "I said that I had
decided to give you a B, Edwards. That, however, was before I had
learned when this was written. I shall now give it a D minus.
You--er--you understand why, Edwards?"

"Yes, sir."

"I'm sorry, but I--er--must take into consideration the facts in the
case. And those facts are that you neglected your work until the last
moment and then disobeyed one of the well-known rules of the school in
order to perform it. There is one other thing I might do. I might credit
you with a B on your exercise and report you to the Office for
disobeying the rules. But--er--I think, on the whole, that the first
method is the more satisfactory. You understand, of course, that
anything under a C in this test is equivalent to failure?"

"Yes, sir."

"Hm; exactly. Therefore, Edwards, you will be required to make up nearly
a month's work in French. I shall have to ask you to prove to me that
you are in line with the rest of the class. But you will have a full
week to do this and I--er--I suspect that you will not find it very
difficult." Mr. Daley took up a blue pencil and marked a large "D-" on
the corner of the blue-book. "You might as well take this now, Edwards.
Bring me another composition not later than a week from to-day, please."
The instructor fluttered the leaves of a memorandum-pad and made a note
opposite a f