Patty's Fortune by Carolyn Wells

Patty always declared afterward, that Chick hypnotised her, and that she _never_ would have done it, had she been in her right mind.

But, on the spur of the moment, carried away with the spirit of the thing, knowing that it was then or never, and taunted by the "_dare_," Patty stepped up on the low chair, and said, "People Dear" before she realised what she was about. Then, like a flash, an acute realisation of what she had done, came over her, followed with lightning-like swiftness by the knowledge that she _must_ go on. To go on was the only possible justification for having gone so far. So, go on, she did.