“Enquire from Dr. Panna Lal.”
“You’re sure I don’t tire you by stopping?”
“Why, no! There are six people present in my small room already. Please remain seated, if you will excuse the informality.” He turned away and continued to address Rafi, who was terrified at the arrival of his Principal, remembered that he had tried to spread slander about him, and yearned to get away.
“He is ill and he is not ill,” said Hamidullah, offering a cigarette. “And I suppose that most of us are in that same case.”
Fielding agreed; he and the pleasant sensitive barrister got on well. They were fairly intimate and beginning to trust each other.
“The whole world looks to be dying, still it doesn’t die, so we must assume the existence of a beneficent Providence.”
“Oh, that is true, how true!” said the policeman, thinking religion had been praised.
“Does Mr. Fielding think it’s true?”
“Think which true? The world isn’t dying. I’m certain of that!”
“No, no—the existence of Providence.”