ct, even abrupt, approach to a matter of delicacy. There was a
complete lack of the diplomatic obliquity to be expected in such a case.
This was not like Millard, and though his exterior was calm and suave
enough from mere force of habit, she quickly formed an opinion of his
condition of internal ebullition from his precipitancy.

"I did not hear anything about it until Thursday, two weeks ago, and I
learned certainly about it only yesterday," she replied, resting as
non-committal as possible until the drift of Millard's inquiry should be
disclosed.

"May I ask from whom?" He was now sitting bolt upright, and his words
were uttered without any of that pleasing deference of manner that
usually characterized his speech.

"From Mrs. Maginnis--Mrs. California Maginnis," she added for the sake
of explicitness and with an impulse to relax the tension of Millard's
mind by playfulness.

"Mrs. Maginnis?" he said with something like a start. "How does Mrs.
Maginnis know anything about what takes place in Mackerelville?"

"It wasn't the Mackerelville case, but one a good deal nearer home, that
she was interested in," said Mrs. Hilbrough. "It's too warm here," she
added, seeing him wipe his brow with his handkerchief. She put her hand
to the bell, but withdrew it without ringing, and then crossed the room
and closed the register.

Millard proceeded in a straightforward, businesslike voice, "Tell me,
please, what Mrs. Maginnis had to do with Miss Callender's faith-cures?"

"Her relation to them came about through Mrs. Frankland."

"No doubt," said Millard; "I expected to find her clever hand in it."

The mordant tone in which this was said disconcerted Mrs. Hilbrough. She
felt that she was in danger of becoming an accomplice in a lovers'
quarrel that might prove disastrous to the pretty romance that had begun
in her own house. She paused and said:

"I beg pardon, Mr. Millard, but I ought hardly to discuss this with you,
if you make it a matter of feeling between you and Phillida. She is my
friend--"

"Mrs. Hilbrough," he interrupted, taking a softer tone than before, and
leaning forward and resting his left hand on his knee, and again wiping
his forehead with his handkerchief, "my whole destiny is involved in the
welfare of Phillida Callender. I haven't quarreled with her, but I
should like to show her that this faith-curing is a mistake and likely
to make her ridiculous. You said that Mrs. Frankland--"

"Mrs. Franklan