"
She smiled at this little outburst of autocracy.
"You do not wish your people to become Christians?" she asked.
"I shall not interfere in their religion," was the quick answer--"or,
at any rate, I shall force nothing. If my people believe truly and
earnestly in their gods, I shall not destroy their belief, for then
they will believe in nothing. And the belief is everything. As for
me"--his voice sank and grew suddenly gentler--"I am different. I have
been led by a light which I must follow."
After a moment's thoughtful silence he changed the subject and began
pointing out to her the improvements he had brought about in the
native dwellings. Even Beatrice, who had seen little of the old
conditions, felt that the change was almost incredible. A
conservative, indolent and superstitious people had within a few
months been transferred from loathsome dirt and squalor into a "model
village" such as an English workman might have envied. Nehal Singh
showed her the houses at the end of the Bazaar which belonged to the
chief men, or those responsible to him for the cleanliness and order
of the community. Small, prettily planted gardens separated one low
dwelling from the other, and each bore its stamp of individuality, as
though the owner had tried by some new and quaint device to outdo his
neighbor.
"Of course," Nehal Singh explained to her, as they turned homeward,
"there are men with whom nothing can be done.
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