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Professor Said Mathematicians Failed 50 Years — But Truant Freshman Girl Cracked It in Class

Professor Said Mathematicians Failed 50 Years — But Truant Freshman Girl Cracked It in Class

Chapter 28

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"That was taken the week we were both hired," Walter said, watching her. "We'd just finished proving some silly little lemma together. Nothing important, but we felt like kings that day.""You kept this all these years?""I kept a great many things all these years," Walter said quietly. "Keeping things quietly is, I'm afraid, something I've always been rather good at."He made tea, slow and careful, his hands shaking slightly as he poured. "I heard what happened," he said, settling into his chair. "News like that travels fast, even to a house as quiet as this one.""Then you know they think I stole something," Ren said. "From an old forum, they said. But it's not true. It was in my grandfather's notebook."Walter's eyes sharpened at that. "His notebook? You still have it?""They took it," Ren said, "for the investigation."Grief moved through his eyes, quiet and heavy, before he could hide it. "Of course they did," he murmured."Professor Simmons," Ren said carefully, "what happened to him? To my grandfather? Why did he leave the university?"Walter was quiet for a long moment, staring into his tea like the answer might be written somewhere in the steam."Edwin and I started here the same autumn," he said, almost to himself. "1974. Two young men who thought numbers could fix anything if you just looked at them long enough." He smiled faintly at the memory. "He used to bring his lunch in a paper sack every single day because he said restaurant food distracted him from thinking. He'd sit in the courtyard behind Wentworth Hall, rain or shine, working through problems most of us wouldn't touch.""That sounds like him," Ren said softly, though she barely remembered enough to know for certain."He was the finest mind I ever stood beside," Walter continued. "Not just clever—patient. He didn't chase answers, not the way some of us did; he waited for them, the way you'd wait for a shy animal to come out of the woods. There are things I promised not to speak of," he said finally, his voice heavier now. "A long time ago, to protect people I cared about.""Please," Ren said. "I need to understand. My grandmother never talks about it. My grandfather never got the chance to."
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Professor Said Mathematicians Failed 50 Years — But Truant Freshman Girl Cracked It in Class

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