In this part of the story, Nelly is having a talk with a lame girl in the Church. The lame girl is carrying a bottle containing Lourdes water, which is said to have healing properties, "Our Blessed Lady cures folks who go there to use the water" (47). It's interesting to hear this since this shows Catholics have faith in healing water. Indeed according to the footnote, "Lourdes water flows from a spring in Lourdes, France, a site of Catholic pilgrimage after the report of a vision there of the Virgin Mary in 1858. The water is believed by some Catholics to have healing properties". This shows the belief that Catholics have to these kinds of things, and part of what makes for Nelly's belief in the Catholic religion.

Harkness, Margaret. A City Girl, edited Tabitha Sparks. Broadview editions 1887. (pg. 47)