CHAPTER X. BROKEN. It was a hard thing to say to Tessie, who knew nothing of Ange’s love for Charteris, but it was wrung from me in the extremity of my fear and pity for the child. Tessie naturally demanded an explanation of my words, and then and there I made a clean breast of it, telling her what I had seen and heard, and how I had told her father of my discovery, and the unsatisfactory result of my communication. We flew into each other’s arms when the recital was finished, and wept together over the misery of it all, as it behoved us, like true friends and sisters, to do. ‘And now, Tessie!’ I said, as I wiped my streaming eyes, ‘hide nothing from me. Let me know how much she heard and how she heard it, that we may be able to judge what is best to do to avert the consequences from her.’ ‘I never left her side for a minute,’ sobbed Tessie, ‘but Sophy Markham pushed her way into the bedroom, and I could not turn her out. Ange was lying just as you left her, quite still and quiet, with her eyes fixed upon the ceiling. I whispered her condition to Miss Markham, and cautioned her to speak in a low voice, and I believe she did so. She was full of the news of Mr. Charteris turning out to be a married man, and of the shock it was to her; and how he had spent all his evenings lately in the billiard-room of the Hôtel d’Etoile, and everybody had remarked upon his pronounced attentions to herself. She was talking a great deal of nonsense about wishing she had a brother to bring him to book for his scandalous behaviour to her, though I don’t believe a word of all that, you know, Hilda.’ ‘I should think not, my dear! Cave Charteris may be a villain, but he is not a fool. But go on. What did Ange say to it all?’ ‘She never said a word; but as Miss Markham was running on at this rate, I thought I heard a rustle on the bed, and, turning round, I saw Ange sitting bolt upright with her eyes fixed upon us. Oh, Hilda! her face looked dreadful! You would never have forgotten it. It seemed as if her cheeks and her jaws had suddenly fallen in. I rushed to her side and laid her down again, and she never uttered a syllable, but only stared at me with those melancholy wide-open eyes. I hurried Miss Markham out of the room, although I knew nothing of what you have now told me, and had no idea that Ange’s appearance was due to anything she had said. Oh! do you really think it will hurt her?’ ‘How is she now, Tessie?’ ‘I think she must be asleep, but I cannot tell. She began to moan so, that I got frightened, and ran down here to watch for your return.’ ‘Let us go to her at once; and mind, not a word, even to one another, of this wretched business. We must hope that Ange did not hear or understand it, or that, if she did, she may forget it again. It is most important to keep the news from her till she is stronger. I am afraid that, at the best, it will prove a terrible blow to her.’