Once he got used to his anger, Smith found himself overcome with a grudging and perverse admiration. However voluptuous and imprecise, the man's rhetorical and inventive abilities were terrifyingly impressive; and however grotesque, his presence was real. There was something cold, calculating and watchful in his eyes, something unnecessarily reckless and yet desperately cautious. Smith realized he was faced with a bluff so colossal and bold that he had no means of dealing with it.
Because even the most inattentive students in the class could tell that Stander was engaged in a performance that was entirely improvised. Smith doubted he'd had a clear idea of what he was going to say until he sat at the lectern before class, staring at the students in his cold, bossy way. It became clear that
