The Secretary of the Examinations Board arranges

for McLeery to oversee Evans’s exam. Although he’s

initially surprised by the Governor’s request to have a
prisoner sit for an O-level German exam, the Secretary is
happy to oblige. The Secretary is warm and friendly;
despite the peculiarity of the request, he thinks they
should give Evans “a chance,” and he laughs “politely” and
“good-naturedly” throughout his conversation with the
Governor. Since the Governor is the one to contact the
Examinations Board in the first place, it seems that the
Secretary is a real employee of the Examinations Board
and not one of Evans’s accomplices, though one of
Evans’s “friends” later poses as the Assistant Secretary