BISHOP. Precisely, precisely! Er— Shall we sit?
[They do so. The BISHOP looks to MANSON to begin. MANSON, failing him, the spirit begins to work within himself.]
Well—er—-speaking of that, of course, my dearly-beloved brother, I feel very seriously on the matter, very seriously—as I am sure you do. The restoration of a church is a tremendous, an overwhelming responsibility. To begin with, it—it costs quite a lot. Doesn't it?
MANSON. It does: quite a lot.
BISHOP. Hm, yes—yes! . . . You mentioned Sacred obligations just now, and I think that on the whole I am inclined to agree with you. It is an admirable way of putting it. We must awaken people to a sense of their sacred obligations. This is a work in which everybody can do something: the rich man can give of the abundance with which it has pleased Providence specially to favour him: the poor man with his slender savings need have no fear for the poverty of his gift— Let him give all: it will be accepted. Those of us who, like yourself, my dear brother—and I say it in all modesty, perhaps _my_self—are in possession of the endowments of learning, of influence, of authority—we can lend our names to the good work. As you say so very beautifully: sacred obligations.
By-the-way, I don't think I quite caught your views as to the probable cost. Eh, what do you think?
MANSON. I think that should depend upon the obligations; and then, of course, the sacredness might count for something.
BISHOP. Yes, yes, we've discussed all that. But bringing it down to a practical basis: how much could we manage with?
MANSON. What do you say to—everything you have?
BISHOP. My dear sir, I'm not talking about myself!