She raised her shoulders resentfully.

"And you have been, to Whinthorpe already!--Why do you go to Mass every
morning?" she asked, looking up. "I know very few Catholics do. I wish
you'd tell me."

He looked embarrassed.

"It has been my custom for a long time," he said at last.

"But _why?_"

"Inquisitive person!"

Her look of pain checked him. He observed her rather sadly and silently
for a moment, then said:

"I will tell you, dear, of course, if you want to know. It is one of the
obligations of the Third Order of St. Francis, to which I belong."

"What does that mean?"

He shortly explained. She cross-examined. He was forced to describe to
her in detail all the main constitutions of the Third Order; its
obligations as to fasting, attendance at Mass, and at the special
meetings of the fraternity; its prescriptions of a rigid simplicity in
life and dress; its prohibition of theatre-going.

She stood amazed. All her old notions of Catholics as gay people, who
practised a free Sunday and allowed you to enjoy yourself, had been long