dy of dignified bearing and a gentle grace
of manner that marked her position in life beyond mistake. Mrs. Beswick
glanced hurriedly at the face, and then made a mental but descriptive
inventory of the costume down to the toes of the boots, rising
meanwhile, work in hand, to leave the room.

"Please don't let me disturb you," said the newcomer to the doctor's
wife; "don't go. What I have to say to the doctor is not private."

Mrs. Beswick sat down again, glad to know more of so unusual a visitor.

"Dr. Beswick, I am Miss Callender," said the young lady, accepting the
chair the doctor had set out for her. "I called as a friend to inquire,
if you don't mind telling me, what you think of Wilhelmina Schulenberg."

When Dr. Beswick had made up his mind to dislike Miss Callender and to
snub her on the first occasion in the interest of science and
professional self-respect, he had not figured to himself just this kind
of a person. So much did she impress him that if it had not been for the
necessity he felt to justify himself in the presence of his wife he
might have put away his professional scruples. As it was he colored a
little, and it was only after a visible struggle with himself that he
said:

"You know, Miss Callender, that I am precluded by the rules of the
profession from consultation with one who is not a regular
practitioner."

Miss Callender looked puzzled. She said, "I did not know that I was
violating proprieties. I did not know the rules were so strict. I
thought you might tell me as a friend of the family."

"Don't you think you might do that, dear?" suggested Mrs. Beswick, who
felt herself drawn to this young lady, for Miss Callender had won her
heart by an evident deference for Dr. Beswick's position and
professional knowledge, and she was touched by a certain sadness in the
face and voice of the visitor.

The doctor relented when he found that his wife would sustain him in it.

"I may answer your question if you ask it merely as a friend of the
patient, but not as recognizing your standing as a practitioner," he
said.

Phillida answered with a quick flush of pain and surprise, "I am not a
practitioner, Dr. Beswick. You are under some mistake. I know nothing
about medicine."

"I didn't suppose you did," said the doctor with a smile. "But are you
not what they call a Christian Scientist?"

"I? I hate what they call Christian Science. It seems to me a lot of
nonsense that nobody can comprehend.