‘There must be good and bad in all countries, monsieur, if you only knew where to look for them. It is a common saying in ours, “A good daughter makes a good wife,” and it is very true. To understand a woman’s real character you must see her at home, with her parents and her brothers and sisters; and if she is loving and kind to them, she is pretty sure to be the same to you.’ I said this, intending it, of course, to direct his thoughts towards Tessie, but he did not seem to take the hint. ‘You must have had an excellent mother, mademoiselle, to teach you like this,’ was all he said. ‘Ah! she was so good, monsieur! Had you known her, you would never have thought evil of any woman again for her sake. My father was once very rich, as you were, and he lost almost all his money too, through an unlucky speculation. We had to give up our grand house and carriage and horses, and come down to live in furnished apartments. The loss broke my father’s heart, but I never once heard my mother complain. She never left his side until he died, and then she never left mine until she died herself. She was an angel to both of us; a true womanly angel, such as you may find in hundreds on this earth, if you have only the sense to know them when you see them, and the worth to deserve their love when you have found it.’ ‘I am not worthy! I shall never deserve such love!’ he said, in a voice of pain. ‘Ah! monsieur, forgive me for speaking so boldly, but how much worthier you might make yourself of it, if you tried. I hope you did not think me forward for asking you to stay here for a few minutes to-night, but I have a great wish to intercede with you—not for yourself, but another.’ ‘For Monsieur Charteris?’ he exclaimed quickly. ‘_Mr. Charteris!_’ I echoed, somewhat scornfully. ‘_No!_ If he chooses to do what is unwise, it is no concern of mine! He is quite old enough to look after himself. The one for whom I desire to ask your interference is young Arthur Thrale. He is only a boy, monsieur, and his relations at home are uneasy at the way in which he is going on in St. Pucelle. Will you try and prevent it? Will you speak to him yourself, and advise him to leave off coming here in the evening, and especially to give up playing cards? You know he loses money over them, and it is his father’s money he is wasting, not his own! Even if it were, I should ask the same thing of you: to stretch out your hand and save him. I cannot do it myself, for various reasons, the chief being that I live in this house. Will you do it for me?’ ‘How can I tell the lad to give up that which he knows I practise myself?’ replied Monsieur de Nesselrode, with a very crestfallen air. Should I be brave and go on and say all that was in my mind concerning him? His humble air reassured me. I resolved that I would.