The sight of her and the sound of her voice stung him into an icy wakefulness. She looked as if she had been sleeping ten hours a night for some time. An expensive green suit set off her red hair and gave her a kind of buxom middle-aged beauty. Her slip showed and the coat was buttoned in a disorderly way, but now it conveyed to Norman the effect of the privileged carelessness of some all-powerful ruler who is above ordinary standards of neatness. For once she was not carrying the usual bulging purse. He did not trust himself to look into her eyes. His hand stole from his pocket to the crevice at the back of the chair. He pushed the lucite egg out of sight. Then he stood up. "Don't go yet, Norm," Gunnison told him. "There's a lot we should talk about." "Yes, why don't you stay?" Mrs. Gunnison seconded. "Sorry," said Norman. "I'll come around this afternoon if you can spare the time. Or tomorrow morning, at the latest." "Be sure and do that," said Gunnison seriously. "The trustees are meeting tomorrow afternoon." Mrs. Gunnison sat down in the chair he had vacated. "My regards to Tansy," she said. "I'll be seeing her tonight at the Carr's--that is, if she's recovered sufficiently." And to know that Tansy's soul was listening to the thoughts behind those words, in complete intimacy--He walked out rapidly and shut the door behind him. While his hand was still on the knob, he saw Mrs. Gunnison's green purse lying on the table and, beyond it, the display case of items in physical chemistry. In that one long moment he smashed the plan he had been contemplating and built a new one. There was one girl in the outer office--a student employee. He went up to her desk. "Miss Miller," he said, "would you be so kind as to get me the grade sheets on the following people?" And he rattled off half a dozen student names. "The sheets are in the Recorder's Office, Professor Saylor," she said, a little doubtfully. "I know. But you tell them I sent you. Dr. Gunnison and I want to look them over." Obediently she took down the names. As the door closed behind her he pulled out the top drawer of her desk and found the key for the display case where he knew he would find it, on the bunch with the rest. A few minutes later Mrs. Gunnison came out. She did not see him at first, because he was standing to one side of the door. "I thought I heard you go out," she said sharply. Then, in her usual blunt manner, "Are you waiting for me to leave, so you can talk to Harold alone?" He did not answer. He glanced at her nose, frowning a little. She picked up her purse. "There's really no point in your trying to make a secret of it," she said. "I know as much about your troubles here as he does--in fact, considerably more. And, to be honest, they're pretty bad." Her voice had begun to assume the arrogance of the victor. She smiled at him. He continued to look at her nose.