She nods. "That, I suppose, is why I raised this topic. I mean... there were multiple aspects I wished to share. But..."

She presses her thumbs together hard to control the urge to fidget; following the exercise set her as a child to soften and harden one distal phalange and then the other.

"I am conscious," she says wretchedly, "that to be compared to the Reverend Mother cannot be interpreted as anything but an insult." She stalls out for a moment.