‘Not make a friend of, Hilda?’ repeated Tessie; ‘isn’t he _nice_, then?’ ‘Very nice, dear, as far I know; but for friendship you want something more than “_niceness_.” You want sympathy in taste and feeling; and I fancy Mr. Charteris is too much addicted to field-sports to make a good companion for women. Arthur Thrale is more fitted for such a capacity.’ ‘_Arthur Thrale!_’ ejaculated Ange with glorious contempt, as she slipped away in answer to a loud demand for her in Madame’s sweet voice. ‘Hilda,’ said Tessie, coming closer to my side, ‘what was it that Arthur’s mother wrote to Mrs. Carolus about? Was it—of—of—what we were speaking last night?’ ‘Not exactly, Tessie ; but I much fear it has something to do with it. It concerned a loss of money on the boy’s part.’ ‘Oh, what _shall_ we do? what _shall_ we do?’ I had never heard such a tone of despair in Tessie’s quiet voice before, and when I turned to look at her the tears had gathered in her eyes again, and her face was drawn with anxiety and pain. ‘Don’t cry, Tessie,’ I said, kissing her—‘it is no fault of yours; and if boys will be foolish, they must pay the penalty. However, I mean to——’ ‘My dear Miss Lovett, I hope I am not interrupting you!’ exclaimed the voice of Mrs. Carolus, at the open door; ‘if so I will go back at once: indeed, I told my Willy I should not be absent more than ten minutes, but I just wanted to ask the question, have you seen Sophy Markham anywhere this morning?’ I had started forward to receive our visitor, and give Tessie time to dry her eyes, or the intelligence that she had been crying would have been communicated to the whole of St. Pucelle before sunset. I felt more kindly towards Mrs. Carolus also than to Miss Markham, because, although they were equally ill-natured to the world, the one had been more friendly to me than the other. ‘Yes! Miss Markham has but just left us,’ I replied. ‘She was here before breakfast, and went up the hill directly afterwards with——’ ‘Not with Mr. Charteris?’ exclaimed Mrs. Carolus, as she clasped her hands and sunk into a chair. ‘Yes, with Mr. Charteris and Mr. Lovett!’ I replied, unable to help laughing at the tragic attitude she had assumed. ‘Oh, Miss Marsh, it is too bad! it is too bad of her altogether! I cast her off from to-day. I refuse to have anything more to do with her! She is not a respectable person to be associated with, nor to have living in one’s house.’ ‘I think you are rather hard on her, Mrs. Carolus. She is very silly, I know, but you need have no fear that Mr. Charteris will do more than laugh at her! Indeed, I am afraid he was laughing at her all breakfast-time, but she did not seem to see it.’