d."

"Nonsense, doctor," said the young lady, smiling in spite of herself,
"you cannot extract a mind."

"Well, perhaps not exactly that," he answered, "but we can help it to be
absorbed and to disappear, and so make a way for the strong, vigorous
mind of maturity, which is certain to succeed it. All this has happened
and is happening to you, Miss Dora. You have lost your milk mind, and the
sooner it is gone the better. You will be delighted with the one that
succeeds it. Now then, can you give me an idea about how angry you are?"

"I am not angry at all," she replied, "but I feel humiliated. You think
my mental sufferings are all fanciful."

"Oh, no," said the doctor; "to continue the dental simile, they are the
last aches of your youthful mentality, forced to make way for the
intellect of a woman."

Miss Bannister looked out of the window for a few moments.

"Doctor," she then said, "I do not believe there is any one else who
knows me, who would tell me that I have the mind of a child."

"Oh, no," replied Dr. Tolbridge, "for it is not likely that there is any
one else to whom you have made the fact known."

There was a quick flush on the face of Miss Dora, and a flash in her blue
eyes, and she reached out her hand toward her muff which lay on the table
beside her, but she changed her purpose and drew back her hand. The
doctor looked at her with a smile.

"You were just on the point of jumping up and leaving the room without a
word, weren't you?"

"Yes, I was," said she, "and I have a great mind to do it now, but
first I must--"

"Miss Dora," said the doctor, "I am delighted. Actually you are cutting
your new mind. Before you can realize the fact, you will have it all
full-formed and ready for use. Let me see; this is the ninth of March;
bad roads; bad weather; no walking; no driving; nothing inspiriting;
disagreeable in doors and out. I think the full change will occur within
three weeks. By the end of this month, you will not only have forgotten
that your milk mind has troubled you, but that the world was ever blank,
and that your joys and affections were ever on the point of passing away
from you. You will then be the brave-hearted, bright-spirited woman that
Nature intended you to be, after she had passed you through some of the
preliminary stages."

The flush on the face of Miss Dora gradually passed away as she listened
to this speech.

She rose. "Doctor," said she, "I like that better than what y