something, and the chance of
getting information from Mr. Carter had seemed too opportune to let
slip. But as he reviewed the episode of the past half hour, he saw that
Mr. Carter was perfectly justified in misunderstanding him and thinking
that he laid himself open to the very situation that had come about.

Paul fingered the bill nervously. Fifty dollars! If he chose to use it
to meet the deficit on the school paper he could now take his own
savings for the new typewriter he wanted so much. Who would be the
wiser? Had not Mr. Carter given him the money? It was his, his own
property.

To forfeit that typewriter had been a wrench. He had not dared to admit
to himself how bitter had been his disappointment at giving it up. It
would be a long time before he could ever again earn enough money to
buy a machine. And he needed it so much--needed it right away. Suppose
he did buy a typewriter next year? A dozen typewriters would never mean
to him what one would mean just now. Until he had made up his mind to do
without it, it had seemed an indispensable possession, and now the
necessity of having it came back again with redoubled force. He
reflected on the machine's myriad advantages. Wasn't it almost
imperative that he buy one? Wasn't such a thing for the welfare of the
school? Surely it would not be a selfish action if he expended his money
for the good of others.

Suppose he were to urge the fellows to sell out the _March Hare_ to
Carter? After all, they were their own masters. They need not do so
unless they chose. He had no authority over them. To advise was a very
different thing from commanding. No matter what measure he advocated,
his opinion was neither final nor mandatory. He was no autocrat or
imperator before whose decree his subjects trembled. It would be absurd
to credit himself with such power.

And, anyway, the editorial board had never promised to bequeath the
_March Hare_ to the school. If parents, teachers, pupils, the general
public had assumed this, they had had no right to do so. The paper, as
Mr. Carter had said, was the property of those who had created it. Were
they not free to dispose of it as they chose?

Yet all the while he argued thus, Paul knew, deep down in his soul, that
although there had been no written or verbal agreement, the community
considered the publication a permanent school property.

Should it be sold to Mr. Carter and continue to be published, what
chances for success would