Something very like an oath passed Mr. Charteris’s lips at this juncture, but he was at my mercy. ‘You are shooting very wide of the mark,’ he replied, with an attempt at nonchalance, ‘and, forgive me for adding, talking of what you know nothing. I am not in the habit of confiding the details of my domestic life to everybody I meet in this world, but had the fact of my marriage been likely to affect Mr. Lovett or his daughters, I should certainly have announced it. Since you refuse to gratify my curiosity any further, may I ask to see Miss Lovett?’ ‘She will not consent to see you,’ I replied, ‘for she is as well aware as I am of the way in which you have treated her sister.’ ‘Under these circumstances, I presume that I had better relieve you both of my presence until Mr. Lovett’s return.’ ‘You can do as you choose about that,’ I said, as I left him standing there and took my way upstairs again. In another minute he had passed into the street and was on his road, as I concluded, to the Hôtel d’Etoile, where he had been in the habit of spending his evenings since Armand had given up playing cards; and Madame Marmoret informed me that he did not return to the house that night. It was a sad and anxious vigil that we spent beside the bedside of poor Ange, who, towards the small hours, began to toss her arms and head about and mutter rapid incoherent words of which we could not catch the import. As morning dawned, she lay more quiet, but the cruel fever still raged on, and she was very, very weak. ‘How soon can the doctor arrive, Tessie?’ I inquired, as we met over a melancholy breakfast at a side-table in the kitchen. ‘When does the diligence come in?’ ‘At eleven o’clock, Hilda. It is the only one, you know, so they are both sure to be with us by that time. What a comfort it will be to have papa at home once more!’ We sat together, anxiously waiting the advent of the diligence, and scarcely daring to make a surmise as to the probable issue of the doctor’s verdict on our poor little sister’s case. Eleven o’clock struck! Half-past eleven, and then there was a sound of feet in the _salle_ below. I did not stop to let Madame Marmoret announce any names, but flew past her on the stairs and into the room. Neither Monsieur Perrin nor Mr. Lovett awaited me there. The new arrival was Mr. Warrington. In my astonishment at seeing him, I forgot for a moment the absence of the others. ‘Why! Mr. Warrington! You are the last person in the world I expected to see.’ ‘And yet I sent Miss Hilda notice of my intended visit,’ he answered, shaking hands with me. ‘True! but not of the probable time. However, I am very glad you are come. If I needed your advice when I wrote to you, I want it tenfold more now. I am in a sad tangle and perplexity, Mr. Warrington.’ ‘Sorry to hear that! I must have a long talk with your trustee about your financial concerns. I have come over for no other purpose. Do you wish your money to remain invested as it is at present?’