"Who would appoint your guardian?"
"The court, I believe."
"Exactly so! The law! What, take your money away from you, or not let you touch it!"
"That's law, certainly."
"Well, wouldn't the law have just as much right to take off a fellow's head, as to take his money?" demanded Paul, triumphantly.
"Mr. Lowington is not our guardian."
"Yes, he is, for the time being; and I hold that he has just as much right to take your money from you as your father would have."
"I don't see it; I don't believe it. The money was given us by our fathers to spend in Europe when we get there."
"Mr. Lowington is to pay all our expenses on shore, by the terms of the contract. Besides, the regulations of the Academy Ship, to which all the parents assented, require that the control of the boys shall be wholly given up to the principal. It's a plain case, Shuffles."
Mr. Lowington and his policy had an able and zealous defender in the person of Paul Kendall, who, by his arguments, as well as his influence, had already reconciled several of the students to the new regulation.