And he has been justly punished!" What Hallowell senior was willing to believe of what the chancellor told him, and his opinion of the matter as expressed to Peter, differed materially.
"They tell me," he concluded, "that in the fall they will give you another examination, and if you pass then, you will get your degree.

No one will know you've got it.

They'll slip it to you out of the side-door like a cold potato to a tramp.

The only thing people will know is that when your classmates stood up and got their parchments--the thing they'd been working for four years, the only reason for their going to college at all--YOU were not among those present.

That's your fault; but if you don't get your degree next fall that will be my fault.