―About religion?
―Yes, Stephen answered.
After a pause Cranly asked:
―What age is your mother?
―Not old, Stephen said. She wishes me to make my easter duty.
―And will you?
―I will not, Stephen said.
―Why not? Cranly said.
―I will not serve, answered Stephen.
―That remark was made before, Cranly said calmly.
―It is made behind now, said Stephen hotly.
Cranly pressed Stephen’s arm, saying:
―Go easy, my dear man. You’re an excitable bloody man, do you know.
He laughed nervously as he spoke and, looking up into Stephen’s face with moved and friendly eyes, said:
―Do you know that you are an excitable man?
―I daresay I am, said Stephen, laughing also.
Their minds, lately estranged, seemed suddenly to have been drawn closer, one to the other.
―Do you believe in the eucharist? Cranly asked.