To help the ignorant to wisdom is always a merit . ' The rosary clicked furiously as an abacus . Then he faced his oppressors . ` Ask them for how much money do they give a wise and suitable teaching ? And in what city is that teaching given ? ' ` Well , ' said Father Victor in English , when Kim had translated , ` that depends . The Regiment would pay for you all the time you are at the Military Orphanage ; or you might go on the Punjab Masonic Orphanage 's list -LRB- not that he or you ` ud understand what that means -RRB- ; but the best schooling a boy can get in India is , of course , at St Xavier 's in Partibus at Lucknow . ' This took some time to interpret , for Bennett wished to cut it short . ` He wants to know how much ? ' said Kim placidly . ` Two or three hundred rupees a year . ' Father Victor was long past any sense of amazement . Bennett , impatient , did not understand . ` He says : `` Write that name and the money upon a paper and give it him . '' And he says you must write your name below , because he is going to write a letter in some days to you . He says you are a good man . He says the other man is a fool . He is going away . ' The lama rose suddenly . ' I follow my Search , ' he cried , and was gone .
` He 'll run slap into the sentries , ' cried Father XXXXX , jumping up as the lama stalked out ; ` but I ca n't leave the boy . '
Bennett English Kim Lucknow Orphanage Victor Xavier abacus days lama