"No, I won't. They don't give that. 'A' is the highest mark they give. But I think I got everything right. How did you answer that question about what Christian tenet the Greeks believed in?" he added, glancing at the copy of the questions which he held in his hands.
"How did _you_ answer it, Peter John?" inquired Foster quickly.
"I answered it that they believed in the immorality of the soul."
"In the _what?_" demanded Foster soberly.
"You meant immortality of the soul, didn't you?"
"Y-e-s, I suppose I did," assented Peter John somewhat ruefully. "But old Splinter will understand," he added quickly. "Splinter will know I just left out a 't', and he won't count that against me."
"No, a little thing like a 't' doesn't count for much, not any more than a decimal point. It doesn't make any difference whether a decimal point is placed before or after a figure, you know. It's only a little thing anyway."
"Yes," assented Peter John, failing to perceive what Foster was saying. "Then there was one other question that was dead easy," he added.
"Let me see, what was that question?" said Foster thoughtfully.
"Why, don't you remember? It was 'Name six animals that were common among the Greeks'."
"Oh, yes; I recall it now; but I don't think I had it right. I could think of but four."
"Pooh! Easiest question of the whole lot."
"Easy! Dead easy! I just said, 'Six dogs'."
The laughter that rang out in the room might have been heard across the campus; but Peter John was only slightly ruffled, and said:
"Oh, well, you fellows may laugh if you want to, but you'll find out when you see my marks."
"They'll put you in Splinter's place as soon as you graduate," suggested Foster when at last he regained control of himself.
"I wish they would," responded Will heartily.
"Splinter" was the term by which the Winthrop boys were accustomed to speak of Professor Hanson, who was in charge of their Greek work. The title did not appear in the college catalog, it was true; but it was the only one by which he was known among the irreverent students. He was an elderly man, whose sensitive nature had suffered for many years from the inadequate preparation of successive classes, until at last not only were his teeth on edge, but his entire disposition as well. He had become somewhat soured and sarcastic in his dealings with the students, and was more unpopular than any other professor in the college. His scholarship was accurate. His ability to impart his knowledge to such students as were eager to learn was also unquestioned, but for the indifferent and lazy, or for the dull or poorly prepared, his words were like drops of vitriol.