Something of this it was that passed vaguely through Dora's mind as she sat listening to David's further talk about his Ancoats scheme; and at last, influenced, perhaps, by a half-conscious realisation of her demur—it was only that—he let it drop.
'What is that book?' he said, his quick eye detecting the little paper-covered volume on Lucy's table. And, stepping forward, he took it up.
Dora unexpectedly found her voice a little husky as she replied, and had to clear her throat.
'It is a book I brought for Lucy. Sandy is a baptized Christian, David. Lucy wants to teach him, so I brought her this little Catechism, which Father Russell recommends.'
David turned the book over in silence. He read a passage concerning the Virgin Mary; another, in which the child asked about the number and names of the Archangels, gave a detailed answer; another in which Dissenters were handled with an acrimony which contrasted with a general tone of sweetness and unction.
David laid it down on the mantelpiece.
'No, Dora, I can't have Sandy taught out of this.'
He spoke with dignity, but with an endeavour to make his tone as gentle as possible.
Dora was silent a moment; then she broke out:
'What will you teach him, then? Is he to be a Christian at all?'