“But when do we do that, Father?” asked Doucebelle.
“When it makes thee forget to say thy prayers, I should think,” drily observed Beatrice.
“When it comes in the way between Him and thee,” said Bruno.
“And is it a sin to waste time, Father?” queried Eva.
“It is a sin to waste any thing,” answered Bruno. “But if it be more a sin to waste one thing than another, surely it is to waste life itself.”
He rose and went away. Eva shrugged her shoulders with a wry face.
“There never was any body so precise as Father Bruno! I would rather ask questions of Father Nicholas, ten times over.”
“Well, I don’t like asking questions of Father Nicholas,” responded Doucebelle, “because he never answers them. He never goes down to the bottom of things.”
“Ha, chétife!” cried Eva. “Dost thou want to get to the bottom of things? That is just why I like Father Nicholas, because he never bothers one with reasons and distinctions. It is only, ‘Yes, thou mayest do so,’ or ‘No, do not do that,’—and then I am satisfied. Now, Father Bruno will persist in explaining why I am not to do it, and that sometimes makes me want to do it all the more. It seems to leave it in one’s own hands.”
Beatrice broke into a laugh. “Why, Eva, thou wouldst rather be a chair to be moved about, than a woman to be able to go at pleasure.”