present was deeply affected as she pictured the scene. As soon as the
meeting closed, Mrs. Maginnis, all in a sputter of excitement, I fancy,
sailed up to Mrs. Frankland, and laid her troubles before her, and
wondered if Mrs. Frankland couldn't get her young friend to pray for her
daughter Hilda. Phillida, by solicitation of Mrs. Frankland, visited the
Maginnises every day for a week. They sent their carriage for her every
afternoon, I believe. At the end of a week 'the motions disappeared,' as
Mrs. Maginnis expressed it."

"I believe it isn't uncommon for children to get well of Saint Vitus's
dance," said Millard.

"You couldn't make Mrs. Maginnis believe that. She regards it as one of
the most remarkable cures of a wholly incurable ailment ever heard of.
The day after Phillida's last visit she sent her a check for three
hundred dollars for her services."

"Sent her money?" said Millard, reddening, and contracting his brows.
"Did Phillida take it?" This last was spoken in a low-keyed monotone.

"Hasn't she told you a word about it?"

"Not a word," said Millard, with eyes cast down.

"She sent back the check by the next postman, saying merely that it was
'respectfully declined.'"

"And Mrs. Maginnis?" asked Millard, his face lighting up.

"Didn't understand," said Mrs. Hilbrough. "These brutally rich people
think that cash will pay for everything, you know. Mrs. Maginnis
concluded that she had offered too little."

"It was little enough," said Millard, "considering her wealth and the
nature of the service she believed to have been rendered to her child."

"She thought so herself, on reflection," said Mrs. Hilbrough. "She also
had grace enough to remember that she might have been a little more
delicate in her way of tendering the money. She likes to do things
royally, so she dispatched her footman to Mrs. Callender with a note
inclosing a check for a thousand dollars, asking the mother to use it
for the benefit of her daughter. Mrs. Callender took the check to Mrs.
Gouverneur, and asked her, as having some acquaintance with Mrs.
Maginnis, to explain that Phillida could not accept any pay for
religious services or neighborly kindness. Mrs. Gouverneur"--here Mrs.
Hilbrough smiled--"saw the ghosts of her grandfathers looking on, I
suppose. She couched her note to Mrs. Maginnis in rather chilling terms,
and Mrs. Maginnis understood at last that she had probably given
offense. She went to Mrs. Frankland, who refer