"What did you say?"
"I had to disapprove and point out that it was a breach of faith and a misappropriation of funds."
"Was the wall needed?"
"Badly! Nothing could be done with the land to make it productive until we had an effective barrier to keep out the buffaloes and goats."
"Then really it is a most excellent move."
"Not at all! Don't you see that there are principles involved?"
"They should have asked your consent, you mean, to the temporary deflection of the money?"
"I should never have given it! They knew it and took good care not to let me into the secret. What am I to do, pray? Where is my bell-tower to come from? It will take two or three years before they can refund the money. Some of it was given by an enthusiastic lover of bells, who was charmed with the idea of assisting to build the tower. Bells, he declared, were missionaries themselves and exercised a Christianising influence. What am I to say to him? He won't see any Christianising influence in the well and the wall."
He sat up in his long armed chair and gazed at Eola with comic concern. It made her laugh.
"My sympathies are all with the builders of the wall. I know how I felt towards the buffaloes and goats before the wall round this compound was completed. After all the bell does very well for the present in the peepul tree."