It would have been her duty.

You couldn't expect a woman like Zora Middlemist to fail in her duty, could you ?" Sypher rubbed his eyes, as if he saw things mistily.

But they were quite clear.

It was really Septimus Dix who sat opposite, concentrating his discursive mind on Sypher's Cure and implicitly denying Zora's faith.

A simple-minded man in many respects, he would not have scorned to learn wisdom out of the mouths of babes and sucklings; but out of the mouth of Septimus what wisdom could possibly proceed?
He laughed his suggestion away somewhat blusteringly and launched out again on his panegyric of the Cure.
But his faith felt a quiver all through its structure, just as a great building does at the first faint shock of earthquake.
"What made you say that about Zora Middlemist ?" he asked when he had finished.
"I don't know," replied Septimus.