a little, for she hated to give
the lecture well-nigh as much as Rose hated to receive it, "if you had
swallowed just a teaspoonful of _sel-volatile_ or something of that
kind, when you came in, the little scene would have been avoided. I
shall speak to my sister Charlotte, who has the key of our medicine
chest, and get her to administer a tiny dose to you every drawing day;
you will step into the study the first thing, and it will be ready for
you."

"Oh, no, thank you, Miss Lucilla," exclaimed Rose hastily, "I never took
_sel-volatile_ in my life. Father says not one of us is hysterical, or
is likely to faint on an emergency, not even Dora or May. He is quite
proud of Annie--my sister Annie--for her nerve, and she needs it all,
since she is in training for a nurse."

Miss Lucilla shook her head dubiously, whether at the modern
institution of lady nurses, or at the superiority in nerve of any family
to which Miss Rose Millar belonged.

"You may not have been hysterical before," said Miss Lucilla with mild
obstinacy; "but that is no reason why you should not be so now. If you
dislike _sel-volatile_, you ought to try red lavender drops. I know they
have gone out of fashion, but my dear mother still used them and found
much benefit from them till she was seventy-seven years of age."

Rose longed to say that there was a great gulf between seventy-seven and
nineteen and two months. She was stopped by the quiet determination and
self-satisfaction visible in Miss Lucilla's face and manner, as she rose
and graciously but summarily dismissed the trespasser on her valuable
time.

"Yes, I hope this will meet the case. You have been overdoing
yourself--that explains itself to everybody. Dear Mrs. Jennings must
forbid you tea and coffee and limit you to cocoa in the meantime;
indeed, my sisters and I take that precaution before any mischief
appears. Don't forget Miss Stone's study the first thing on drawing
mornings. I trust a little sedative and stimulant in one will prepare
you nicely for the drawing lessons."

To Rose's disgust she was compelled to make wry faces and choke over so
many doses of _sel-volatile_ and red lavender to the end of the term.
She made secret unfulfilled threats to write to her father and get him
to say that he would not permit her constitution to be tampered with, he
would himself order her what she required, if she needed to be quieted
like an incipient mad woman or a weak emotional fool.

Rose