in her chair with eyes averted, and made no
reply.

"I have been thinking that, after all, perhaps you ought to make some
concessions to such a man."

Phillida trembled visibly. This was not what she had expected.

"You wouldn't wish me to be unfaithful to my duty, would you?" she asked
in a low voice.

"No, dear; I don't say you ought to sacrifice anything that is _clearly_
your duty. Some duties are so clear that they shine like the pole-star
which guides the mariner. But there are many duties that are not quite
clear. We should be careful not to insist too strongly on things in
which we may be mistaken. There would be no such thing as marriage if
there was not some yielding on both sides; I mean in matters not
certainly essential to a Christian life."

Phillida was now looking directly at her visitor with a fixed and
hopeless melancholy which puzzled Mrs. Frankland, who had expected that
she would seize gratefully upon any advice tending to relax the rigor of
her self-sacrifice. Phillida's attitude was incomprehensible to her
visitor. Could it be that she had resolved to break with her lover at
all hazards?

"You know, dear," said Mrs. Frankland, sailing on a new tack now, as was
her wont when her audience proved unresponsive, "I think, that as the
wife of a man with increasing wealth and of excellent social position,
like Mr. Millard, you would be very useful. We need such devoted and
faithful people as you are in society. And, after all, your gift of
healing might be exercised without publicity--you might, I think, defer
a good deal to one whom you have promised to love. Love is also a gift
of God and a divine ordinance. In fact, considering how ample your
opportunities would be as the wife of a man of wealth and position, such
as Mr. Millard, it seems to be your duty to examine carefully and
prayerfully whether there is not some reasonable ground on which you can
meet him. At least, my dear, do not act too hastily in a matter of so
much moment."

Advice pitched in this key did not weigh much at any time with Phillida.
A thin veil of religious sentiment served a purpose of self-deception
with Mrs. Frankland, but such disguises could not conceal from
Phillida's utterly sincere spirit the thoroughly worldly standpoint of
Mrs. Frankland's suggestions. The effect of this line of talk upon her
mind was very marked, nevertheless. It produced a disenchantment, rapid,
sudden, abrupt, terrible. Mrs. Frankland, the