In the summer of 1874 Papadiamantis was preparing intensively for the University entrance examination. His fear of a possible failure in front of his examiners forced him to spend many hours studying, but the result vindicated his efforts. On September 16 he enrolled at the Department of Philology of the University of Athens. According to the law, he declared real estate property of ten thousand drachmas, an amount nowhere near his true financial capacity. The motive behind this lie is unknown, but may be due to his general feeling of shame and embarrassment for his poverty and destitution.