Girard was not someone who believed in speaking quietly.
The hall fell silent for a brief instant; even Archbishop Beaumont on the stage had to cover his embarrassment with a dry cough.
Kampa, the dean of the University of Paris Academy of Sciences, hurried over and sat down beside Girard, signaling him not to shout: "Philippe, if you have something to discuss, you can certainly come to me after the ceremony."
Yes, Girard was himself the aristocrat he so often attacked, and at the same time an alternate member of the French Academy of Sciences, very familiar with Kampa.
Girard gestured toward Tener: "You should know Mr. Tener's written exam scores—mathematics, mechanics, logic and so on are all 'excellent'; only literature is 'good'. Yet he didn't even get an interview!
"How am I supposed to believe the fairness of this admissions process?"
