‘In conclusion, I must apologize for the unmethodical way in which I have expressed myself, as I am writing in great haste to catch the next post, and I have thought it right to reply to you without consulting any person or book, except the Bible and Prayer Book. I have endeavoured to be perfectly candid;—should the Council decide that my views are so unsound that I am unfit to occupy the position to which I have been appointed, I shall trust that they will allow me to make as public a statement of my opinions as they are obliged to make of my dismissal, for I shall feel that after this no person of moderate views will trust me, and my own conscience would not allow me to work with the extreme party in either high or low church.’ The diary of these two days gives a hint of the anxiety Miss Beale underwent when the attack was made upon her, and before she could receive answers to her own letters:— ‘_July 12._—Mr. B(ell)’s letter about H(igh) Church from Cheltenham, and my answer. Some vanity. (Prayer) for resignation. ‘_July 13._—Sent proofs to Cheltenham. Dined at the Curlings. Dr. Clarke very agreeable. Felt angry with Mr. Shepheard.’ Mr. Bell’s reply to Miss Beale’s letter suggests that the difficulty before the Council was less directly one of religious principle than that of working a school where certain precise opinions were not professed. ‘_July 13, 1858._ ‘MY DEAR MISS BEALE,—I have to-day laid your reply before Mr. Hartland and Dr. Comyn, the only two of my colleagues now here, and we have no fault to find with its tenor, which is explicit enough. Whether or not the fact of your holding the opinions thus avowed will lead to difficulties hereafter, we cannot say. If you feel conscientiously bound in and out of class to make known and inculcate your distinctive views of doctrine according to your interpretation of scripture and of our Liturgy and Articles, then it is easy to foresee the result. If, however (as I hope), you regard it of primary importance in the instruction of the children to inculcate love to God and His Son, and charity (in its manifold phases and with its relative duties), towards our fellows—treating as of far minor importance the doctrinal points about which good men differ so widely,—then I should not anticipate any active opposition from those to whom your peculiar opinions may be known.