"You were also in the church to-day," said Manna.
"Yes."
"I must beg your forgiveness, I have done you wrong."
"Done me wrong?"
"Yes, I thought you were without religion."
"So I am, according to strict opinions."
Manna said nothing; she laid the bit she was just raising to her mouth down again on her plate. Both sat silent, opposite each other, for a long while; each was seeking after a safe topic of conversation.
"You had a younger brother whom you have lost? I heard you speaking of him to-day," began Manna, blushing up to her temples.
"Yes, he was of the age of Roland, and this very day I have been wondering why I could not be as much to my dear brother as I have been to our Roland."
"Do not say have been; you are still, and will remain so to him. Roland repeated to me, an expression of yours: 'Friends who can forsake one another were never friends.'"