"I don't think I have sacrificed much," answered Phillida with a trace of embarrassment. "My social opportunities could not have been many at best, and I would rather have led,"--she hesitated a moment,--"I don't know but I would rather have led my quiet life than--the other." In her effort to say this so as neither to boast of her own pursuits nor to condemn those of others, Miss Callender's color was a little heightened. Millard was sorry that his innocent question had led the conversation into channels so personal. Mrs. Hilbrough was inwardly vexed that Phillida should be so frank, and express views so opposed to those of good society. "You find Brooklyn a pleasant place to live, no doubt," said Millard, taking it for granted that Phillida was from Brooklyn, because of her friendship for the Hilbroughs. "I liked it when we lived there. I like New York very well. My relatives all live on this side of East River, and so I am rather more at home here." "Then you don't find New York lonesome," said Millard, with a falling cadence, seeking to drop the conversation. "Oh, no! I live near Stuyvesant Square, and I have an aunt in Washington Square of whom I am very fond." "I am often at the Gouverneurs, on the north side of the Square. I like Washington Square very much," said Millard, getting on solid ground again. "We visit at the same house. Mrs. Gouverneur is my aunt," said Phillida. Millard was a little stunned at this announcement. But his habitual tact kept him from disclosing his surprise at finding Miss Callender's affiliations better than he could have imagined. He only said with unaffected pleasure in his voice: "The Gouverneurs are the best of people and my best friends." Mr. Hilbrough looked in amusement at his wife, who was manifestly pleased to find that in Phillida she was entertaining an angel unawares. Millard's passion for personal details came to his relief. "Mrs. Gouverneur," he said, "had a brother and two sisters. You must be the daughter of one of her sisters. One lives, or used to live, in San Francisco, and the other married a missionary." "I am the missionary's daughter," said Phillida.