"Can you pray, Leo?"
He gazed at her in shocked amazement. "Pray, indeed! It's well for those who can. But I have sneaked out of the Almighty's way, like my dog Leo sneaks out of my way when he has torn a fowl to pieces."
"You ought to try," she said, with her most pious expression "It has done wonders for me lately.... I confide all my yearning to the merciful ear of the Saviour, and----"
"Yearning? Yearning for what?" he asked.
She smiled in confusion. "Really, you ought to pray," she repeated.
"Indeed!"
"Perhaps our Lord is only inflicting this trial on us as a test of our faith, and we shall come through it glorified. It may be that it is part of His system of salvation to----"
"Tell me," he broke in, aghast, "have you been calling on Brenckenberg?"
"God forbid!" she cried. "I am horribly afraid of him."
"Or perhaps on Johanna?"