'Nay, nay!' said Tellwright, aghast at this sum. He had underrated the importance of the Building Fund.
'And I,' said the parson solemnly, 'I have but fifty pounds in the world, but I am giving twenty to this fund.'
'Then you're giving too much,' said Tellwright with quick brusqueness. 'You canna' afford it.'
'The Lord will provide,' said the parson.
'Happen He will, happen not. It's as well you've gotten a rich wife, Mr. Banks.'
The parson's dignity was obviously wounded, and Anna wondered timidly what would occur next. Mrs. Sutton interposed. 'Come now, Mr. Tellwright,' she said again, 'to the point: what will you give?'
'I'll think it over and let you hear,' said Ephraim.
'Oh, no! That won't do at all, will it, Mr. Banks? I, at any rate, am not going away without a definite promise. As an old and good Wesleyan, of course you will feel it your duty to be generous with us.'
'You used to be a pillar of the Hanbridge circuit—was it not so?' said Mr. Banks to the miser, recovering himself.
'So they used to say,' Tellwright replied grimly. 'That was because I cleared 'em of debt in ten years. But they've slipped into th' ditch again sin' I left 'em.'