Page:Vidyasagar, the Great Indian Educationist and Philanthropist.djvu/70

 Directors, "that you will bear in mind the great financial difficulties to which we are now exposed, and that you will not on any account sanction any increase of expenditure in any part of India in connection with education without our authority previously obtained." This added to the complication and necessitated further correspondence. Long voyage and red tape greatly delayed the reply; meanwhile Vidyasagar had to pay the bills from his own purse to get out of the tangle.

These and several other petty annoyances nearly took the life out of him. In spite of remonstrances from Mr. Halliday and other well-wishers, both European and Indian, he while still in the full vigour of his working powers, demitted his posts in November 1858, with an undisguised sense of relief. Thus ended the unfortunate duel, and Destiny apparently gave the victory to mediocrity.

Yet to the end of his days Vidyasagar continued to be an expert unofficial adviser