"What do you mean, sir ?" "As Miss Agnes Darling's medical attendant, my dear Miss Rose,--deeply as it wounds me to refuse your slightest request--I really must forbid any step of the kind.

The consequences might be serious." "And I am not to see her if I choose ?" demanded Rose, her eyes quite flashing.
"Certainly you are to see her, and to fetch her jelly, and chicken, and toast, and tea, if you will; but you are not to speak of the ghost.

That blood-curdling subject is absolutely tabooed in the sick-room, unless--" "Unless what ?" inquired Rose, angrily.
"Unless you want to make a maniac of her.

I am serious in this; you must not allude in the remotest way to the cause of her illness when you visit her, or you may regret your indiscretion while you live." He spoke with a gravity that showed that he was in earnest.

Rose shrugged her shoulders impatiently, and walked to Agnes' door.