It ended, of course, in her being crushed as flat as is a broken-winged
butterfly that comes in the path of a garden roller. He stood up and
towered over her.
"Dorcas," he said, "do what you will. Stay here if you wish, and enjoy
your money and your luxuries. I sail on the first of next month for
Africa. Because you are weak, do I cease to be strong?"
"I think not," she replied, sobbing, and gave in.
So they sailed, first class--this was a concession, for he had intended
to go third--but without a nurse; on that point he stood firm.
"You must learn to look after your own children," he said, a remark at
which she made a little face that meant more than he knew.
II
The career of Mr. and Mrs. Bull during the next eight years calls for
but little comment. Partly because Tabitha was delicate at first and
must be within reach of doctors, they lived for the most part at various
coast cities in Africa, where Thomas worked with his usual fervour
and earnestness, acquiring languages which he learned to speak with
considerable perfection, though Dorcas never did, and acquainting
himself thoroughly with the local conditions in so far as they affected
missionary enterprise.
He took no interest in anything else, not even in the history of the
natives, or their peculiar forms of culture, since for the most part
they have a secret culture of their own.
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