Chapter 10

THE EXAMINATION IN HISTORY

ON the 16th of April I entered, for the first time, and under the
wing of St. Jerome, the great hall of the University. I had
driven there with St. Jerome in our smart phaeton and wearing the
first frockcoat of my life, while the whole of my other clothes--
even down to my socks and linen--were new and of a grander sort.
When a Swiss waiter relieved me of my greatcoat, and I stood
before him in all the beauty of my attire, I felt almost sorry to
dazzle him so. Yet I had no sooner entered the bright, carpeted,
crowded hall, and caught sight of hundreds of other young men in
gymnasium [The Russian gymnasium = the English grammar or
secondary school.] uniforms or frockcoats (of whom but a few
threw me an indifferent glance), as well as, at the far end, of
some solemn-looking professors who were seated on chairs or
walking carelessly about among some tables, than I at once became
disabused of the notion that I should attract the general
attention, while the expression of my face, which at home, and
even in the vestibule of the University buildings, had denoted
only a kind of vague regret that I should have to present so
important and distinguished an appearance, became exchanged for
an expression of the most acute nervousness and dejection.
However, I soon picked up again when I perceived sitting at one
of the desks a very badly, untidily dressed gentleman who,
though not really old, was almost entirely grey. He was occupying
a seat quite at the back of the hall and a little apart from the
rest, so I hastened to sit down beside him, and then fell to
looking at the candidates for examination, and to forming
conclusions about them. Many different figures and faces were
there to be seen there; yet, in my opinion, they all seemed to
divide themselves into three classes. First of all, there were
youths like myself, attending for examination in the company of
their parents or tutors. Among such I could see the youngest Iwin
(accompanied by Frost) and Ilinka Grap (accompanied by his old
father). All youths of this class wore the early beginnings of
beards, sported prominent linen, sat quietly in their places, and
never opened the books and notebooks which they had brought with
them, but gazed at the professors and examination tables with
ill-concealed nervousness. The second class of candidates were
young men in gymnasium uniforms. Several of them had attained to
the dignity of shaving, and most of them knew one another. They
talked loudly, called the professors by their names and surnames,
occupied themselves in getting their subjects ready, exchanged
notebooks, climbed over desks, fetched themselves pies and
sandwiches from the vestibule, and ate them then and there