It
appears that the church at Sisa, which I understand was quite a nice one
built with subscriptions obtained in England by one of my predecessors
who chanced to have influence or connections at home, has been recently
burnt down together with the mission-house. Now the house can wait,
since, of course, we can make shift for a year or two in some native
huts, but obviously we must have a church, and as the Society is
overdrawn it cannot help in the matter. Under these circumstances I
ventured to promise a gift of 1,000 pounds, which it is estimated will
cover the re-erection of both church and house."
He paused awaiting a reply, but as Dorcas still said nothing, continued.
"You will remember that you told me quite recently that you found you
had 1,500 pounds to your credit, therefore I felt quite sure that
you would not grudge 1,000 pounds of it to enable me to fulfil this
duty--this semi-divine duty."
"Oh!" said Dorcas. "As a matter of fact I intended to spend that 1,000
pounds, or much of it, otherwise. There are some people here whom I
wanted to help, but fortunately I had not mentioned this to them, so
they will have to do without the money and their holiday; also the
children cannot be sent to school.
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