Tessie flew downstairs to do my bidding, and returned in company with Madame Marmoret, to whom she had confided her sister’s condition. To see that woman as she bent over the insensible form of her nursling, with all the rancour faded out of her black eyes, and her hard-lined, brown face twitching with emotion, one would never have believed she was the same creature who had urged on her master’s creditors to take their vengeance with the malignity of a she-devil. ‘_Eh! bah! ma petite Ange!_’ she exclaimed, in a tone of anguish, as she kissed the unconscious face. ‘What art thou dreaming of? It is not time to go to heaven yet, _bébé_, though thou art fitter for that than for such an earth as ours. What can have brought thee to such a state, _enfant chérie_? _Ay mi, ay mi!_’ ‘It is my belief you have only yourself to thank for it, Madame,’ I said curtly, as I unceremoniously thrust her to one side. ‘Does mamselle wish to insult me?’ she demanded. ‘I wish to tell you the truth. I believe that Mademoiselle Ange never went to the convent at all this morning, but came up to her room instead, and then overheard the disgraceful tumult you permitted in the courtyard. You may fancy how that would affect her when she has been kept in ignorance even of her father’s debts.’ ‘_Mon Dieu!_’ cried Madame, aghast. ‘You do not mean to tell me the child was _here_ the while?’ ‘I feel sure she was. She could not have left the house and returned to it without our notice. We forgot all about her in our excitement, while she stood here and received a sword in her tender little heart. Poor Ange!’ ‘Oh, my _bébé_, my _bébé_!’ said Madame, with the tears running down her cheeks; ‘it is not true—it cannot be true! For nineteen years have I borne it patiently for her sake, and would have bitten my tongue out sooner than have told her what I suffered. And now, through my own wickedness, in an evil moment, she has heard all!’ ‘Hush!’ I exclaimed authoritatively. ‘She is coming to herself. Don’t make her worse by the sight of your agitation.’ As I spoke the words, Ange slowly unclosed her violet eyes—dimmed violets they looked now, as if a cloudy mist had spread over them—and turned them inquiringly upon me. ‘It is all right, darling,’ I said cheerfully, to reassure her. ‘You have been a stupid girl and fainted, but now that you have revived again, we will lift you on the bed, and let you lie still and rest’ We all three raised her as I concluded, and helped to lay her on her bed, but the only sign of consciousness she gave was the visible shudder with which she greeted Madame Marmoret’s touch. The woman stooped down and kissed her hand, but I saw Ange draw it away—very feebly it is true, but sufficiently to mark her dislike of the action—and then I knew that I had guessed aright, and she had been witness to the indignities heaped upon her father. ‘Hilda,’ said Tessie to me that afternoon, in a frightened whisper, ‘we _must_ write for Dr. Perrin.’