Wellesley College - Legenda Yearbook (Wellesley, MA)

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AN APPROPRIATED OPINION.

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AN APPROPRIATED OPINION. PEOFESSOK KAENES was leaning back in her chair, but even her leisure seemed nervously alert. One long arm stretched to the curve of the chair- rest. She was ready to pull forward any moment and bring to bear all the power of voice and pres- ence one could not deny her. The office was growing dark, for it was past five, and a ISTovember snow-storm was whirling outside. Altogether Miss Caldwell was not comfortable. She was tall herself and had not the present advantage of leaning back in an office chair. She was conscious through her weari- ness and irritation that Professor Karnes was using an unjust advantage in the case, and worse than that, the advantage was innocently taken. If she were posing at me, she thought, I should hate her. But she is magnificent and too slow to know it. Aloud she said, I have tried to do the girl justice. Profes- sor Karnes. There is not another report you could ask for that would offer such a difficulty. A flash crossed the Professor ' s face. She is brilliant. She is unresponsive. She is original. She is unintelligible. You must admit. Miss Caldwell, that I have reason to be puzzled at these accounts. I repeat that this paper is a disgraceful piece of work. I should scarcely call it work. Have you the bimonthly pleasure of deciphering such a manuscript? She tapped it with her second finger. Miss Caldwell was rigid with indignation at the tone the Professor had taken, but there was nothing to be said. Angu- lar and scholastic as she was, she was blessed with a far quicker academic sense than this woman. She knew it perfectly, and she knew the student whose name was being tossed to and fro. Such work as Ethel Ashley ' s could not be classified. It must be taken individually and understood. There was one way out 15