'Besides, how would you pick out the dull ones?
By examination ?' He was not without a sense of humour, and his sharply-chiselled lips twitched a little but were almost instantly grave again.

The Mother Superior's profile was as still as a marble medallion.
'It ought to be stopped altogether,' she said presently, with conviction.

'Meanwhile, though I have told Sister Giovanna that it is not my place to hinder her, much less my right, I tell you plainly that I will prevent her from going, if I can!' This frank statement did not surprise the prelate, who was used to her direct speech and energetic temper, and liked both.

But he said little in answer.
'That is your affair, Reverend Mother.

You will do what your conscience dictates.' 'Conscience ?' repeated the nun with a resentful question in her tone.
'If the word really means anything, which I often doubt, it is an instinctive discernment of right and wrong in one's own particular case, to be applied to the salvation of one's own soul.