"I agree with you in regard to Mr. Hamblin; but what shall I do?"
"Discharge him," replied the doctor, promptly. "Any instructor who cannot get along with Paul Kendall, without quarrelling, is not fit for his place. The students of the Josephine have hazed Mr. Hamblin out of pure sympathy for their captain."
"I have engaged Mr. Hamblin for a year from the 1st of July."
"I should pay him his salary in full, and let him depart in peace, if he would."
"We need his services as an instructor."
"So far as that is concerned, I will volunteer to take the department of mathematics. I was a tutor in college in that branch for a couple of years."
Mr. Lowington thanked the surgeon for this offer; and the call to divine service in the steerage terminated the interview. The principal's advisers spoke his own opinions; and the only thing that embarrassed him in getting rid of the obnoxious professor was the bad conduct of the students in regard to him. It was emphatically wrong for them to "haze" an unpopular professor; and Mr. Lowington was not willing to act under apparent compulsion.
The school studies were continued as usual through the forenoon of Monday. After dinner, dressed in their best uniforms, with bag and blanket, the students were conveyed to the shore for their trip through Holland, which was to occupy three or four days. The first afternoon was to be occupied in exploring Rotterdam, and, as usual, Paul Kendall and Dr. Winstock kept together.
"This is the Hoogstraat," said the doctor, when they reached the principal street of the city.
"Does that mean Hog Street?"