“I have never known anything else,” said Katherine, simply.  “When I was a very little child my mother was healed of a disease which several physicians had pronounced incurable.  She at once became an earnest student of Christian Science, and, later, a successful practitioner; consequently its principles, as far as I have gone, are as clear to me as those that govern your own dear mathematics are to you.  But”—­a blank look suddenly sweeping over her face—­“I am afraid I have been guilty of rank disobedience in discussing these problems with you.”

“How so?” asked her teacher, in surprise.

“Prof.  Seabrook has strictly forbidden me to talk of Christian Science while I am a student at Hilton.”

“Of course, he meant that you must not talk it to the other students,” said Miss Reynolds, “and it would be unwise, for, doubtless, the parents of many, if not of all, would object.  But I, as your teacher, feel at liberty to ask you whatever questions I choose, and you are perfectly justified in answering them.”

“Ye-s, I believe you are right on that point,” Katherine thoughtfully returned.  “But I would not willfully disobey the professor in any way.  I owe him perfect loyalty as long as I am a pupil in his school, and I mean to yield it to him.”

“That is right,” her companion affirmed; “but you do not need to condemn yourself for what has occurred this afternoon, for, at my age, I am capable of judging for myself upon all moral and religious questions, and I think you may feel at liberty to give me any information that I may seek from you.  I have not done with you, either,” she added, with a significant smile, “for you have given me to-day a glimpse of something which I believe will change the universe for me.  Ah! whom have we here?”

She checked herself suddenly as a gentleman came into view around a curve in the road, a short distance ahead of them.

CHAPTER IV.

Phillip Harris Stanley, M.D.

Katherine glanced up as her companion called her attention to the approaching figure, and saw a finely formed man, tall, straight and stalwart, and, apparently, about thirty-five years of age.  He possessed an attractive, though thoughtful, face, and bore himself with an air of refinement and self-possession that at once proclaimed him the cultured gentleman.

A delicate pink instantly suffused the girl’s face, and there was a peculiar thrill in her voice as she exclaimed, in great surprise: 

“Why! that is Dr. Stanley!  Mamma and I became acquainted with him on board the Ivernia when we returned from abroad, two months ago.”

“So you already know Phillip Harris Stanley!” Miss Reynolds observed, and surprised in turn.  “He is Mrs. Seabrook’s brother—­ the ‘Uncle Phillip’ of whom Dorothy spoke.  He has been in Germany during the last two years, studying in various hospitals, but has now again opened his office in this city.  Dorothy is under his care, and he is therefore a frequent visitor at the seminary.”