Chapter 11 chapter Ten

Everyone said: no one can do it, but maybe she—Lucy Ping—can.When the door closed behind Miss Varger, Lucy found herself in a dilemma.She was absolutely convinced that Miss Luc's first opinion was much more true to Handa's reaction than her second.Miss Luke's so-called confusion in Handa's mind was not enough to remove Lucy's doubts about her own judgment. Lucy did not forget that on Monday morning, when the secretary mentioned the letter from Alingo, Handa's face showed She had a strange and sinister expression, as if she was thinking of something in her heart.But it is definitely not the expression of parents celebrating Christmas.This is definitely something that makes her feel that she is not aboveboard.She may not be able to see the facts clearly and think that Ruth is absolutely suitable for this position, but it is not so absurd that she does not know that Innes is more qualified.

That being the case, it was Lucy's duty to keep these facts before her eyes.About the little red book that was already pulped in the weeds - she was so impulsive when she threw it away - it was a pity, but with or without the book, she had to stand up to Handa and make a strong case , to prove that Ruth was not the best person to be assigned to Allinger. Lucy was a little surprised that this conversation with Handa made her feel uneasy as if she had returned to her school days. This could not still exist in the hearts of adults, let alone an adult celebrity.But she was provoked by Handa's words "a pretty face affects people's hearts", and Handa really shouldn't have said such a comment.

She stood up and put the tea, which was both strong and cold, on the tray. She was sorry to find that someone had prepared macaroons for tea.Ten minutes ago, she would definitely have some biscuits, but now, even with cream puffs in front of her eyes, she probably has no appetite.It wasn't that she discovered Handa's weakness, because Lucy never fantasized about Handa's image.But she did regard Handa as someone worthy of respect in the past, and the habits she developed in school as a child have stayed with her to this day.So it was a shock when she discovered that she could imagine Handa's inappropriate behavior—deceit at worst, mischief at worst.She thought, who the hell is Ruth, who can make a person like Handa make such an improper judgment and insist on it so much. "pretty face"

It's a careless remark.Was it not that plain northern face that touched a woman's other feelings after she got used to seeing pretty students? Did Handa see it in this plain, unloved, hard-working, ambitious Ruth? What about herself? Did she see her past struggle history? Is it because of this that she subconsciously loves and takes care of Ruth?Her opinion of Ruth's failure in pathology exams was sharp enough to ignore the disputes among the staff. Or is it all just Ruth, as she was that morning, using her envious rather than pretty face to influence others? No, not that.Handa had her flaws, but she was by no means stupid.Like everyone in academia, she knows a lot about real or fake admiration and belief.Ruth's believer-like admiration may have increased her interest in Ruth, but the source of goodwill does not stop there.Things are more like the cognitions developed when ordinary, unloved, ambitious Handa meets ordinary, unloved, ambitious Ruth.

Lucy could not make up her mind whether to go to Handa immediately, or wait until she had calmed down a bit. The thing is, after Handa's anger subsides, she must be more determined about the matter.After thinking it all over, and bearing in mind the lesson of the tragedy that had just happened, Lucy thought it best to go to Handa now, while her legs were still going in the right direction. After Lucy knocked on the door of Handa's office, there was no immediate response.For a moment, she wished that Handa was back upstairs in her room and that she would have a few hours of buffer time from the heavy responsibilities she was carrying.Otherwise, said Handa's voice, come in, and Lucy felt as timid as a prisoner as she walked through the door, and was angry at herself for cringing.Handa was still flushed with a hurt look; if the person in front of her was not Handa, Lucy would have said that the person's eyes were shining with tears, but this would never happen to Handa.She seemed to be busy reviewing the papers on the desk, and Lucy felt that in fact, before she knocked on the door, the only functioning part of Handa was her head.

"Handa," she began, "you probably think it's too presumptuous of me to express my opinion of Ruth tonight." gosh.Sounds like the words of a megalomaniac!) "It's kind of redundant." Handa said coldly. Listen to Handa! "Excessive!" "But I've been asked for my opinion," she pointed out, "and that's the way it is. I wouldn't have said it if I hadn't been asked. The thing is, my opinion—""I don't think there's anything to discuss, Lucy, it's such a small thing after all, it's not worth—"

"But it's no small matter. Otherwise I wouldn't have come to you." "We've always boasted that everyone in England has freedom of speech. Well, you've said what you think—" "When I'm asked for an opinion, I say it." "You were asked to say, yes. I'm just telling you that it's not prudent to express an opinion on a matter that you don't know, or don't know at all." "That's right. I know something. You think Miss Ruth's unremarkable looks make me prejudice against her—" "Maybe to you, she is not outstanding." Handa corrected.

"Maybe we can say she's not particularly good," said Lucy, annoyed but beginning to feel better. "You think I'm only judging her by her mannerisms, but that's not the case." "So how do you judge her in other ways? You don't know anything about her performance or her class." "I acted as a class invigilator during the exam." Lucy found with satisfaction that Handa had suddenly fallen silent. The silence lasted five seconds. "When you invigilate the exam, what strengths and weaknesses can you see in the students?" "Honesty or not."

"Lucy!" But it was a tone of warning, not surprise.Like, do you know what the penalty for defamation is if it does come out? "Yeah, I'm talking about her honesty or not." "Are you telling me that Miss Ruth was taking -- with -- outside help in her exams?" "She tried her best. I was in school too, so I don't know the methods. I found out what she wanted to do at the beginning of the matter, and in order to avoid a scandal, I thought the best way was not to let her use it. ""To use? With what?" "The pamphlet." "You said you saw students stealing booklets for exams, but you didn't say anything"

"Of course I didn't say anything. I didn't know about the booklet until after the fact. All I knew at the time was that she was trying to look up something. She had a handkerchief in her left hand—though she didn't have a cold. That handkerchief wasn't much use - yet she looked like she was hiding a bag of candy in her desk, you know. There was nothing under her desk, so I figured, whatever it was, she must be hiding it in a handkerchief.Since I have no proof—" "Ha! You have no proof." "There is no evidence, and I don't want to affect the mood of the whole class, so I stood at the back of the classroom and watched right behind her, so that she couldn't get help from anything or anyone."

"If you didn't question her, how did you know about the booklet?" "I found the booklet abandoned on the way to the gym. It was—" "You mean the booklet is neither in her desk nor in the classroom at all?" "Yes. If it's in her desk, you'll find it within five minutes. If I find the brochure in the classroom, I'll bring it to you right away." "What kind of booklet is it?" "Little address book with pathology cheat sheets." "An address book?" "Yes. Full of alphabetical notes, names like Arthritis." "So, at best, it's just reference notes that students make during class." "Not 'at best.'" "How to say? " "Because the writing on it does not exceed the size of the postmark." Lucy waited for Handa to understand what the words meant. "What does this brochure you found have anything to do with Miss Ruth?" "Because no one else in the classroom had that candy-stealing expression, in fact, no one else was particularly troubled by that test paper. And Miss Ruth was the last person to leave the classroom." "What does that have to do with things?" "If the booklet had been thrown away before Ruth left the classroom, we could almost be sure that any student could have picked it up. It was peony red and it was lying on the edge of the grass next to the path. superior." "So it's not just dropped on the trail?" "No," said Lucy reluctantly, "about half an inch from the path." "So it's also possible that the students who just finished the exam, chattering with excitement, and preparing to rush to the next classroom to take the exam didn't notice?" "It's not impossible." "Is there a name in the pamphlet?" "No." "No name? No information for identification?" "There is nothing but the handwriting. The handwriting is cursive, not block letters." "I see." Handa visibly cheered up, "You'd better give me the booklet, and we'll be ready to find out the owner of the booklet." "I don't have it," said poor Lucy, "I threw it in the water." "What did you do with it?" "I mean, I threw it in the creek behind the field." "This approach is quite extraordinary." Did a spark of relief flash in Handa's eyes? "Impulsive. What else can I do? It's all pathology cheat sheets, and the pathology final exam is over." , and besides, no one has ever used this booklet. If someone tried to do something, it didn't work anyway. So why bother to show you the booklet? I think the best punishment is to let the person who copied the booklet , she will never know what will happen to the booklet. Let her always have such a question in her heart for the rest of her life." "'The man who copied the pamphlet.' That explains the situation pretty well. It really doesn't prove that Miss Ruth has anything to do with the pamphlet." "If there is evidence, as I said just now, I will give it to you. This is only an inference, but it is definitely a strong reasoning, and there is a reason for it." "How to say? " "Students who are confident will not waste their time on this. That is to say, people with strong subjects are not suspected. Besides, you told me yourself that Miss Ruth's academic performance was not satisfactory. " "There are a lot of other students as well." "That's right. But there is another factor in the matter. Even if the other students are not good in their subjects, they won't mind it after a long period of struggle. But Ruth's outstanding performance in subjects, if she fails in the subject exams, it will make her heartbroken." Pain. She is not only ambitious, but also very hardworking.She hopes to get the fruit of success after hard work, but she is not sure about the result, so the incident of Xiaobao happened. ""All this, my dear Lucy, is but a theory of psychology. " "Maybe. But what Mrs. Leaver asked me to do in the studio was psychological analysis. I think you should know that my analysis is well-founded." She looked at Handa's blushing face , wondering if she was stepping into the fray again, and now she's proving she's not crossing the line without reason. "As a friend, Handa, I really don't understand why you insist on assigning Ruth to Alinga with a suitable candidate like Innes?" Then she waited for Handa to explode. All is calm.Handa sat quietly in the dead silence, with a pen in her hand drawing on clean blotting paper. Drawing circles and wasting paper were both Handa's habits, which showed that she was in a state of confusion. "I don't think you know Innes," she said with some difficulty, in a flat, friendly voice. "Just because she's smart and good-looking, you assume she has all the virtues. She has absolutely no sense of humor and doesn't make friends easily—two very important things for anyone trying to live a boarding-school communal life." Her great intellect prevents her from sharing pleasures with others. She has a tendency—I believe she does not mean to—to despise the rest of the world." (Lucy suddenly remembered this afternoon, Innes Unconsciously use "they" A few words to address other students.Handa is really amazing. ) "In fact, since the first day she came to Lai's Academy, I felt that she looked down on this school and just used it as a springboard." "Oh, of course not," Lucy protested mechanically, but she didn't think so. Maybe what Handa said was actually part of what Innes was bothering her about.If Lai's Academy is just a shelter, a trial before reaching its ultimate goal, it may explain Innes' over-mature self-restraint, unnecessary concentration, and lack of sternness. Irrelevantly, she recalled Diderot's rash statement, saying that she changed her mind and stayed at Lai's College because she saw Innes. It was because of Innes' feeling that she didn't belong to Lai's College that Diderot noticed her on that bleak autumn afternoon. Innes was as conspicuous as a foreigner from the adult world. "But she's popular among her classmates," said Lucy aloud. "Yes, her group liked her very much. I think they found her nonchalance attractive. Unfortunately, the younger kids didn't like her too much, finding her too threatening.When the school staff took the students to the off-campus practice courses, there were comments. If you look at the comments written above, you will find that 'hostile' appears repeatedly in her attitude comments. " "Maybe it's the relationship between her eyebrows." Lucy found that Handa didn't know much, and worried that her statement was too hasty, so she added: "Maybe she is like everyone else, no matter what she looks, she is very concerned about her inner self." Lack of confidence. That often manifests in a hostile attitude." "I've found that the psychologist's explanation can really turn everything around," said Handa. "If someone is not born with attractive grace, then at least they can work hard to win friendship. Miss Ruth is like that." (I bet so too! Lucy thought.) "It's a pity to lack natural grace. Not only cannot the friendship of classmates be easily obtained, but also the prejudice of teachers and teachers must be resisted. Miss Ruth strives to get rid of her natural defects: She wasn't quick enough, she wasn't beautiful; she worked more than others to get to know people, and had to get over herself to be like them, to be likable, and--and--to be accepted.For her students, she was a complete success.The elementary students love her and want to see her again, and the comments about her classes are excellent. But in the eyes of the teaching staff, she was completely denied.They only saw her unattractive side, but they didn't see any of her efforts to win friendships and adjust to others. She raised her eyes from the circle-drawing pen to look at Lucy, and found Lucy's expression, "Yes, I know.You think I'm promoting Miss Ruth because I'm blind, don't you? Believe me, I've brought Lace College to where it is today without being ignorant of how the human mind works.Ruth has worked hard for several years and has been quite fruitful. Her students like her, and at the same time she has adjusted herself so that her students can accept her.Innes obviously lacks Ruth's friendliness and adaptability, and I strongly recommend it, and there is no reason why Alinga should not accept her. " "Except for her questionable honesty." Handa put the pen back into the pen holder with a "click". "That's what ordinary girls struggle with," said Handa hotly. "You think there's a girl who's under the pressure of failing a test to cheat, and you pick on Ruth. Why? Precisely." , all because you don't like her appearance, or her expression." So, in vain.Lucy moved, ready to leave. "The pamphlet you found had nothing to do with any of the students. You just remembered that you didn't like the look on Miss Ruth's face, and she was convicted of it. If there were any criminals—I'm sorry my senior The students in the class have to live with this accusation - possibly the most beautiful and innocent student in the class. You should understand that human nature is not the same as psychological theory." Lucy didn't know if the remark was the final blow, or an accusation that she was forcing crimes on ordinary-looking students, but she was full of anger before she even got to the door. "One last thing, Handa." Her hand rested on the doorknob. "what? " "So far, Ruth is topping the final exams." "That's right." "Isn't it strange?" "Not at all. She's been working very hard." "It's very strange. When someone supervised and couldn't use the little red booklet, she couldn't even get the first class." She closed the door softly behind her back. "Let her think about that," she thought. By the time she got to the flank, her anger had turned to depression.As Miss Luke said, Handa has an upright personality, but it is this upright personality that makes it impossible to argue with her.She could think quickly and clearly on certain points, but on the other hand she was, as Miss Luc said, "out of her mind," and this was difficult to remedy. Handa wasn't consciously deceiving, so it was hard to reason, or be intimidated, let alone seduced by sweet words.Going to the banquet now, Lucy felt that she would have trouble not spoiling the atmosphere.How will she face a group of senior students who are speculating about the candidates for Alingo, surrounded by the beautiful face of Innes? What about S.