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Lthe gladiatorial professor armed with hi, examinatio""
"Pass them to the rear," Deese continued. "There should be five
numbered pages. The instructions are self-explanatory; you're all in
college. It is now two o'clock-the test will end at five o'clock. I
remind you all I conduct my classes on the honor system ... I repeat,
you work on the honor system."

Cliff watched Deese sedately seat himself behind the huge desk.
With his thin, nervous fingers Deese extracted some papers from his
brief case, and started to thumb through them, at unrelated intervals
looking up from under his thick bifocal glasses. His face was pale and
naked, with large, thick lips offset by very high cheek bones. His
general appearance suggested dullness and indifference, but something
in those keen, pale blue eyes told of razor-sharp perception and a
brilliant mind. Cliff could think of no one who didn't hold Deese
in the highest regard. He was rough, mighty rough, but good and fair.
A burning desire to teach, to provoke others to learn, was his mission,
and he was as devoted as a nun to the church. He had no particular
affection for the A students, and no malice toward those on the border-
line, such as Cliff was. His only concern was improvement: a true
educator in every sense of the word, thought Cliff.

Thirty minutes crawled by-time enough for Cliff to do everything
he was certain was right. Now it was time for the sleight-of-hand act
from the pocket to the blue book. One quick, carefully controlled
movement to slip the little cards in the back of the exam booklet.
He raised his hand to scratch his head, then let it slowly drop over
his ear onto his shoulder, then darted into the shirt pocket for the
cards. He pulled them out instantly, and slipped them into the book
which was held open by his other hand. He breathed a sigh of relief
for a moment, then relief turned into horror when he noticed the
crib that had slipped from his grasp during the transaction and had
fallen to the floorl

Why doesn't he come back here and tear up this damn blue book
and put me out of this misery, Cliff said to himself. He knows I was
cheating, I know I was ... why does he have to practice this amateur
psychology on me. He was looking right at me when I got out of
my seat to pick the card off the floor. Cliff's mind continued to race
and whirl. He glanced up toward Deese, and met the professor's
intent stare head-on. Cliff quickly looked down to his paper, but
admitted solemnly to himself it was all over but the shouting.

Cliff was startled at the sound of wood scraping wood as Deese
pushed himself away from his desk, and raising his thin body with

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