Long before I reached it I could see the stream of light which its lamps threw across the road, and hear the sound of men’s voices, laughing and talking together, and the click of the billiard-balls cannoning each other on the table. I felt sure it was here that Ange’s delirious fancy would lead her, and I was right. As I arrived opposite the open window of the billiard-room, I caught sight of a dark figure half hidden in the shadow of the wall, and springing towards it, I clasped her in my arms—Ange, with only her black dress covering her nightgown, her bronze-coloured hair floating over her shoulders, and her poor naked feet upon the ground. ‘Ange! Ange! my darling!’ I exclaimed, as I folded her to my heart. ‘Come back! Come home with me! You will be so ill if you remain here!’ ‘_Hush! Hark!_’ she said, with such wide-open, fixed and solemn eyes, and in such a tone of awe, that I felt constrained to obey her. There were perhaps a dozen men or more, knocking the billiard-balls about and filling the atmosphere with smoke, but Cave Charteris’s voice was to be distinguished above them all. ‘Reckless old dog, that _Papa_ Lovett,’ I heard him say. ‘He’s a regular out-and-out swindler! I’ve lent him more cash myself since I’ve been here than his whole carcase would pay for, but I knew I should never see the colour of it again when I parted with it.’ ‘Took the change out in other ways, I suppose, _mon cher_?’ suggested a foreigner. ‘The _bon papa_ has two pretty daughters, _n’est ce pas_? and it is said you have evinced a decided predilection for the little one.’ ‘_Ah! fi donc_, monsieur!’ cried Charteris, jestingly; ‘don’t make profane remarks! I am a married man! and other men’s pretty daughters are of no further use to me.’ ‘_Vraiment!_ I shouldn’t have thought it!’ rejoined the other, incredulously. I had felt the slight form in my clasp shiver under these words, as if it had been struck, and I could bear it no longer. ‘Ange!’ I exclaimed vehemently, ‘you _must_ come home! this is no place for you! and you will catch your death of cold if you remain here any longer. I _insist_ upon your returning with me!’ But there was no answer to my appeal, only the form I held seemed to sink lower and lower, until I could support it no longer. ‘Ange! Ange!’ I went on in terror, ‘try and hold yourself up, or I must call for assistance. I cannot carry you. Oh, darling! make one effort and let me get you home!’ Still she sunk down—down—heavier each moment in my arms. ‘Mr. Charteris!’ I screamed in my alarm; ‘Mr. Charteris! Come here! Come at once—Ange is dying!’ There was a sudden commotion in the billiard-room as my voice reached its occupants—a few exclamations of surprise—a cessation of sound—and then Cave Charteris came flying through the open window to my aid. ‘Hold her up!’ I panted; ‘I have no strength left! She escaped from us in her delirium, and I must have her carried home at once.’