As I came to this conclusion, deliberately and without the least rancour in my mind against him, I called out aloud, ‘_Thank God!_’ for I felt that I was healed. As the poor diseased and dying creatures whom we read of in the Holy Scriptures touched the hem of the King’s garment, and experienced an immediate cure, so, in one moment, the conviction dawned upon me that what I had been fearing was a mere ‘bogey,’ raised by the shock of Mr. Charteris’s sudden appearance amongst us; and, save for a slight feeling of shame that I should have troubled my head about him for so long, I should be able to meet him on the following morning with an outstretched hand and a heart full of gratitude for my deliverance. Tessie had suggested, as I parted with her, that in a few days I might congratulate myself on having met him again. But a few hours had elapsed since then, and I was already full of self-congratulations. For, had I _not_ encountered him, I might have gone on nursing my sickly sentimental memory of the past, until the grave swallowed me and it together. I felt such a sudden transition from the melancholy despondency with which I had entered my chamber, to a state of freedom and whole-heartedness, that I could almost have passed to the opposite extreme, and sung, in the gratitude of my spirit. I was like a person who has burthened himself for half his life with carrying about a heavy bundle that nearly weighs him to the ground, but which he considers it imperative, on account of its value, not to part with; but who, unexpectedly discovering it is composed of worthless rubbish, casts it from his shoulders. How light and airy he must feel! How light and airy _I_ felt when I saw my bundle of rubbish at my feet! My dearest mother was no longer under the sod then. She had risen again to paradise, and taken the place my love had assigned her amongst angels like herself. I threw myself on my knees beside my bed, and prayed to her more than to Heaven, begging her to look down and see how earnest and sincere I was in saying I was cured, and had no regret on earth, excepting that _she_ was not there to rejoice with me. I was so excited at my discovery, that I could not sleep until I had seen the girls again, and disimbued their minds of the idea that I was fretting in my solitude. I opened my door, and looked down the corridor. The light was streaming in a thin line of silver beneath theirs. I stepped across, and entered gently. Tessie was already in bed and half-asleep; but Ange was leaning in her nightdress on the windowsill, with her pretty bare feet upon the uncarpeted floor. ‘Ange! Ange!’ I exclaimed, ‘you careless child! you will catch your death of cold some day, if you are not more prudent.’ ‘Is that Hilda?’ asked Tessie, rousing herself at the sound of my voice. ‘Ange, why are you not in bed yet? It must be an hour since we came upstairs. And as for you, Hilda, I hoped you were fast asleep.’