The
smart little college cap was a source of great pleasure to him;
without being actually conscious of it, he felt that he, as a member
of the upper classes, had received a charter. They were not a little
proud of their knowledge, too, these young men, for the masters had
pronounced them "mature." The conceited youths! If at least they had
mastered all the nonsense of which they boasted! If anybody had
listened to their conversation at the banquet given in their honour,
it would have been a revelation to him. They declared openly that they
had not acquired five per cent. of the knowledge which ought to have
been in their possession; they assured everybody who had ears to
listen that it was a miracle that they had passed; the uninitiated
would not have believed a word of it. And some of the young masters,
now that the barrier between pupil and teacher was removed, and
simulation was no longer necessary, swore solemnly, with half-intoxicated
gestures, that there was not a single master in the whole school who
would not have been plucked. A sober person could not help drawing the
conclusion that the examination was like a line which could be drawn at
will between upper and lower classes; and then he saw in the miracle
nothing but a gigantic fraud.
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