"No," said Madelon, "I did not know. Was that why so many
people were there? What were they doing?" she persisted.

"How do you mean?--do you not go the _messe_ every Sunday?" said
Madame, surprised.

"To the _messe!_" answered Madelon--"what is that? I never was in
a church before."

"Never in a church before!" echoed a chorus of three
astonished voices, while Monsieur added--"Never in this church,
you mean."

"No," answered Madelon, "it is the first time I ever went into
a church at all."

"But, _mon enfant_," said the mother, "you are big enough to
have gone to church long before this. Why, you must be eight
or nine years old, and Nanette here went to the _grand' messe_
before she was five--did you not, Nanette?"

"Yes," says Nanette, with a further sense of superiority added
to that already induced by the contrast of her new white
muslin frock with Madelon's somewhat limp exterior.

"And never missed it for a single Sunday of fête-day since,"
continued Madame, "except last year, when she had the
measles."

"Do you go there every Sunday?" asked Madelon of the child.