"Are you like that?"
"Not particularly; but other people are, and that's what they say."
"Church is too amusing nowadays."
"I'm afraid my sense of humour isn't sufficiently developed."
"It's the parsons I'm thinking of. Once upon a time, when people went in for deadly sins, it gave 'em something to preach about. Now we all lead proper, discreet lives, they have to justify their existence by inventing tiny sins for their present congregations."
"What sins?" asked Mavis.
"Sins of omission: any trifles they can think of that a more robust race of soul-savers would have laughed at. No. It's the parsons who empty the churches."
"I don't like you to talk like that."
"Why? Are you that way?"
"Sometimes more than others."