The child (aged six). “I told Alix that I knew my French history. She says that I do not know it, but I do.”

Alix , the big girl (aged nine). “No; she does not know it.”

The Mother . “How is that, my child?”

Alix . “She told me to open the book at random and to ask her any question in the book, and she would answer it.”

“Well?”

“She did not answer it.”

“Let us see about it. What did you ask her?”

“I opened the book at random, as she proposed, and I put the first question that I came across.”

“And what was the question?”