questions philosophical, questions algebraical, and questions
geometrical, until in an agony of distress Maddy raised her hands
deprecatingly, as if she would ward off any similar questions, and
sobbed out:

"Oh, sir, no more. It makes my head so dizzy. They don't teach that in
common schools. Ask me something I do know."

Suddenly it occurred to Guy that he had gone entirely wrong, and
mentally cursing himself for the blockhead the doctor had called him,
he asked, kindly:

"What do they teach? Perhaps you can enlighten me?"

"Geography, arithmetic, grammar, history, and spelling-book," Madeline
replied, untying and throwing off her bonnet, in the vain hope that it
might bring relief to her poor, giddy head, which throbbed so
fearfully that all her ideas seemed for the time to have left her.

This was a natural consequence of the high excitement under which she
was laboring, and so, when Guy did ask her concerning the books
designated, she answered but little better than before, and Guy was
wondering what he should do next, when the doctor's welcome step was
heard, and leaving Madeline again, he repaired to the next room to
report his ill success.

"She does not seem to know anything. The veriest child ought to do
better than she has done. Why, she has scarcely answered half a dozen
questions correctly."