I marked her well, and wondering
to myself what brought her there unaccompanied and in such plain attire.
It is true, she is a little eccentric, but then her parents, I thought,
would have looked after her sufficiently to prevent such a breach of
etiquette. Really, doctor, I don't know what to think of it."

"Come," said he, with a smile, "come, confess you are a little smitten
with the young lady. You can't quite get her out of your thoughts, even
while you are acting. She has made a great impression on your
over-sensitive brain, and at the time perhaps your nerves were a little
unstrung from over study or over excitement about your part, or
else"--here he relaxed into another smile--"are you quite, _quite_ sure
you did not take just a _leetle_ drop of _something_ upon an empty
stomach, just to screw yourself up to the right pitch?"

And here he laughed heartily.

"Upon my honour, doctor," said I, "I am not in the habit of having
recourse to stimulants. I assure you----"

He interrupted me with a hearty laugh, and said, "Ah! you actors are sad
dogs."

I smiled and then after a moment's reflection said, "By the way, doctor,
for what were you called to attend upon Miss Maud? I hope she is not
dangerously ill. What is her complaint?"

"Well," said the physician, gravely, "I am afraid it is somewhat
serious. She had a fit that appeared to me to be cataleptic. It is the
second she has had it seems. It lasted for some considerable time, and
when she awoke she complained of a weight over her eyeballs and an
inclination to sleep, with a pain down the whole right side of the body.
She felt extremely nervous, and asked for a fan, with which she begged
me to fan her powerfully, and afterwards to change the movement, so as
to cause the current of air to pass her face in a transverse direction.
This I did, after which she declared that she had recovered."

I was startled at the doctor's relation, but said nothing, for I was now
more convinced than ever that my intense desire for her to be present
had influenced her magnetically, and had been the means, though
unwittingly, of withdrawing her spirit temporarily from the body. But
what would have been the use of my declaring my suspicions to such an
old-fashioned fogey as this worthy doctor? I should only have been
laughed at, so I held my peace.

"Well, doctor," said I, after we had walked on together for some time in
silence, being occupied with my thoughts, "if you have no