Has that ever happened to you ?" "Certainly, my love .-- It has happened to most people to fancy what you say, when their nerves are a little out of order." "Very well.

There is _my_ fancy, and there are _my_ nerves.

When it happened to you, what did you do ?" "I struck a light, and satisfied myself that I was wrong." "Suppose yourself without candle or matches, in a night without end, left alone with your fancy in the dark.

There you have Me! It would not be easy, would it, to satisfy yourself; if you were in that helpless condition?
You might suffer under it--very unreasonably--and yet very keenly for all that." She lifted her little cane, with a sad smile.

"You might be almost as great a fool as poor Lucilla, and clear the air before you with this!" The charm of her voice and her manner, added to the touching simplicity, the pathetic truth of those words.