"She isn't fit," said Henry, "to decide anything for herself."
Brodrick sent a level look at him.
"You talk," said he, "as if she wasn't responsible."
"I should be very sorry to say who is and who isn't. Responsibility is a question of degree. I say Jane is not at the present moment in a state to decide."
"It sounds," said Brodrick, laughing in his bitterness, "very much as if you thought she wasn't sane. Of course I know she'd put a cheque for a hundred pounds into a drawer and forget all about it. But it would be more proof of insanity in Jinny if she remembered it was there."
"It would indeed," said Sophy.
"We're not discussing Jinny's talent for finance," said Henry.
"I suppose," said Brodrick, "what we are discussing is her genius?"
"I'm not saying anything at all about her genius. We've every reason to recognize her genius and be proud of it. It's not a question of her mind. It's a question of a definite bodily condition, and as you can't separate mind from body" (he shrugged his shoulders), "well—there you are. I won't say don't let her work; it's better for her to use her brain than to let it rust. But let her use it in moderation. Moder—ation. Not those tremendous books that take it out of her."
"Are you sure they do take it out of her? Tanqueray says she'll be ill if she doesn't write 'em."