“I have heard⁠ ⁠…” (Lembke hesitated to utter his thought) “I have heard that on your return from abroad you made some expression⁠ ⁠… as it were of repentance, in the proper quarter?”

“Well, that’s as it may be.”

“And, of course, I don’t want to go into it.⁠ ⁠… But it has seemed to me all along that you’ve talked in quite a different style⁠—about the Christian faith, for instance, about social institutions, about the government even.⁠ ⁠…”

“I’ve said lots of things, no doubt, I am saying them still; but such ideas mustn’t be applied as those fools do it, that’s the point. What’s the good of biting his superior’s shoulder! You agreed with me yourself, only you said it was premature.”

“I didn’t mean that when I agreed and said it was premature.”