Page:The Redemption of Anthony (1911).djvu/44

 she's had hers away at school," Mrs. Crompton put in.

"I say, that's a mean shot!" cried Peter.

"It's always unwise to sail too close to a personality, don't you think, Mrs. Crompton?" said Drake. "It always stimulates curiosity about one's own practises."

"Well, I haven't any principles, and my practises are scandalous, so I've a perfect right to cast the first stone."

"You're behaving very badly, Nan," Mrs. Martin said. "There's no vestige left of the spiritual quality."

"It's useless to encourage illusions about yourself in other people's breasts, don't you think so, Parson?" she demanded.

"Illusions are so often safeguards, Mrs. Crompton. Even the best of us like a little haze between the observer and our innermost selves."

"If you weigh nearly two hundred, as I do, there is quite a thick haze between the observer and your innermost self," murmured Peter softly.