told me you were sure they were talking about things they should
not talk about; you have no right to assume these things. You're
asking of the people an abstinence you don't practice yourself.
Sometimes your friends are women."

"Yes. But--"

Father Tom's anger prevented him from finding an adequate
argument. Father Stafford pushed the tobacco bowl towards his
nephew.

"You're not smoking, Tom."

"Your point is that a certain amount of vice is inherent in human
nature, and that if we raise the standard of virtuous living our
people will escape from us to New York or London."

"The sexes mix freely everywhere in western Europe; only in
Ireland and Turkey is there any attempt made to separate them."

Later in the evening Father Tom insisted that the measure of
responsibility was always the same.

"I should be sorry,' said his uncle, "to say that those who
inherit drunkenness bear the same burden of responsibility as
those who come of parents who are quite sane--"

"You cannot deny, uncle John, that free will and predestination--"

"My dear Tom, I really must go to bed. It is after midnight."