"Not really?"

"Do you know why?"

"I can't imagine."

"Because in going up and down the stairs those inside might perhaps
catch a glimpse of the stocking covering their ankles."

"But what--"

"Did you know that the morals of the German public are in such a shaky
condition that a glimpse of that sort would be fatal to them? "

"But I don't see how a stocking--"

"With stripes round it," said Irais.

"And darns in it," I added.

--could possibly be pernicious? "

"'The Pernicious Stocking; or, Thoughts on the Ethics of Petticoats,'"
said Irais. "Put that down as the name of your next book on Germany."

"I never know," complained Minora, letting her note-book fall,
"whether you are in earnest or not."

"Don't you?" said Irais sweetly.