ou are
right in your diagnosis. If you will give her these drops exactly as I
have directed, I think she will brace up sufficiently to go through her
part all right."

Nan thanked the Doctor, and hurried back to Patty's room to look after
her charge. She found Patty lying quietly, but in a state of mental
excitement. When Nan came in, she began to talk rapidly.

"It's all right, Nan, dear," she said. "I'm not ill a bit. Please let me
get up now, and dress so I can go around to the schoolroom a little bit
early. There are two or three things I must look after, and then the play
will go off all right."

"Very well," said Nan, humouring her, "if you will just take this
medicine it will brace you up for the evening, and you can go through
with the play as successfully as you did your part this afternoon."

Patty agreed, and took the drops the Doctor had left, without a murmur.

Soon their soothing effect became apparent, and Patty's nervous
enthusiasm quieted down to such an extent that she seemed in no haste to
go.

She ate her dinner slowly, and dawdled over her dressing, until Nan again
became alarmed lest the medicine had been too powerful.

Poor Nan really had a hard time of it. Patty was not a tractable patient,
and Nan was frequently at her wits' end to know just how to manage her.

But at last she was ready, and they all started for the school again.
Although Patty's own people, and a few of her intimate girl friends knew
of her overwrought state, most of the class and even the teachers had no
idea how near to a nervous breakdown she was. For her demeanour was much
as usual, and though she would have moments of dazed bewilderment, much
of the time she was unusually alert and she flew about attending to
certain last details in an efficient and clear-headed manner.

CHAPTER IX

THE PLAY

The play went through beautifully. Every girl did her part wonderfully
well, but Patty surpassed them all. Buoyed up by excitement, she played
her part with a dash and sprightliness that surprised even the girls who
had seen her at rehearsal. She was roguish, merry and tragic by turns,
and she sang her solos with a dramatic effect that brought down the
house. She looked unusually pretty, which was partly the effect of her
intense excitement, and though Nan and Mr. Fairfield could not help
admiring and applauding with the rest, they were very anxious and really
alarmed, lest she might not be able to keep up to thes