“Indeed? I have known some very fine Episcopal ministers, very fine ones.”
“We’ve got a lot of them down home, ministers I mean.”
“I should suppose so. I knew some before I went into the monastery.”
“What’s a monastery like, sir?”
“Just like anything like that would be. Just the way you’d expect it to be. Perhaps a little like the army.”
“It must be queer, being so out of things.”
“One’s not so far out of the world. There is certainly nothing harder than living in close quarters with a group of people.”
“I thought it was supposed to be a kind of escape.”
“Certainly not. We have more time to think about the world. Of course, we do own nothing, and that makes life much simpler. Most people spend all their lives thinking of possessions.”
“I suppose you’re right,” said Hodges. Duval did not listen as they talked. Instead he walked restlessly about the salon.