“But I’ve got the commands, Sister Mary, in the Book; and God hasn’t written a new one, has He?”
“Silly child! the Church is above any Book.”
“Oh no, it can’t be, Sister, please. What Father bade me do his own self must be better than what other people bid me; and so what God says in His own Book must be better than what other people say, and the Church is only people.”
“Cicely, be silent! Thou art a very silly, perverse child.”
“I dare say I am, Sister, but I am sure that’s true.”
Sister Joan was on the point of bidding Cissy hold her tongue in a still more authoritative manner, when one of the lay Sisters entered the room, to say that a woman asked permission to speak with one of the teaching Sisters.
“What is her name?”
“She says her name is Denny.”
“Denny! I know nobody of that name.”
“Oh, please, is her name Dorothy?” asked Cissy, eagerly. “If it’s Dorothy Denny, Mrs Wade has sent her—she’s Mrs Wade’s servant. Oh, do let me—”