Dr. Eben smiled in spite of himself at this off-hand, non-professional
view of the case; but he answered, sadly:

"Not what you mean by any thing wrong; if there were, it would be easier
to cure her."

Hetty knitted her brows, and looked at him in her turn, scrutinizingly.
"Have you had patients like her before?"

"Yes," said Dr. Eben.

"Did they all die? Didn't you cure one?" continued Hetty, inexorably.

"I have known persons in such a condition to recover," said Dr. Eben,
with dignity; "but not by the help of medicine so much as by an entire
change of conditions."

"What do you mean by conditions?" said Hetty, never having heard, in her
simple and healthful life, of anybody's needing what is called a "change
of scene." Dr. Eben smiled again, and, as he smiled, he noted with an
involuntary professional delight the clear, fine skin, the firm flesh,
the lustrous eye, the steady poise of every muscle in this woman,
who was catechising him, with so evident a doubt as to his skill and
information.

"I hardly think; Miss Gunn," he went on, "that I could make you
understand, in your superb health, just all I mean by change of
conditions. It means change of food, air, surroundings; every thing in
short, which addresses itself to the senses. It means an entire new set