“Are you trying to make me think that you’d be pious if only you were allowed to wear sandals and a hair shirt?”
“Oh, no, Jenny dear. But at least I can admire that sort of religion from a distance.”
“The distance being, I suppose, from here to Birmingham?”
“May I ask if you are what is vulgarly called getting at me?”
“Well, I’d like to know how long this correspondence between you and Stella has been going on.”
“Almost ever since she left—but we’ve only just got on to religion.”
“Be careful—that’s all. I don’t want you to hurt yourself.”
“How?—with Stella or with Stella’s ideas?”
“Both,” said Jenny darkly.