Mrs. Poyntz with Lilian.

"Well?" said she, tremblingly.

"Permit me to see Dr. Jones's prescriptions. Thank you. Ay, I thought
so. My dear madam, the mistake here has been in depressing nature instead
of strengthening; in narcotics instead of stimulants. The main stimulants
which leave no reaction are air and light. Promise me that I may have my
own way for a week,--that all I recommend will be implicitly heeded?"

"I promise. But that cough,--you noticed it?"

"Yes. The nervous system is terribly lowered, and nervous exhaustion is a
strange impostor; it imitates all manner of complaints with which it has
no connection. The cough will soon disappear! But pardon my question.
Mrs. Poyntz tells me that you consulted a clairvoyants about your
daughter. Does Miss Ashleigh know that you did so?"

"No; I did not tell her."

"I am glad of that. And pray, for Heaven's sake, guard her against all
that may set her thinking on such subjects. Above all, guard her against
concentring attention on any malady that your fears erroneously ascribe to
her. It is amongst the phenomena of our organization that you cannot
closely rivet your consciousness on any part of the frame, however
healthy, but it will soon begin to exhibit morbid sensibility. Try to fix
all your attention on your little finger for half an hour, and before the
half hour is over the little finger will be uneasy, probably even
painful. How serious, then, is the danger to a young girl, at the age in
which imagination is most active, most intense, if you force upon her a