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410 THE ADVENTURES OF PHILIP
is thinking of her creditors ; of her poverty ; of that accepted bill
which will come due next week, and so forth. The Samaritan who
rescues you, most likely, has been robbed and has bled in his day,
and it is a wounded arm that bandages yours when bleeding.
If Anatole, the boy who scoured the plain at the " Hotel
Poussin," with his plumeau in his jacket-pocket, and his slippers
soled with scrubbing brushes, saw the embrace between Philip and
his good friend, I believe, in his experience at that hotel, he never
witnessed a transaction more honourable, generous, and blameless.
Put what construction you will on the business, Anatole, you little
imp of mischief ! your mother never gave you a kiss more tender
than that which Madame Smolensk bestowed on Philip—than that
which she gave Philip—than that which she carried back from him
and faithfully placed on poor little Charlotte's pale round cheek.
The world is full of love and pity, I say. Had there been less
suffering, there would have been less kindness. I, for one, almost
wish to be ill again, so that the friends who succoured me might
once more come to my rescue.
To poor little wounded Charlotte in her bed, our friend the
mistress of the boarding-house brought back inexpressible comfort.
Whatever might betide, Philip would never desert her ! " Think
you I would ever have gone on such an embassy for a French
girl, or interfered between her and her parents'?" Madame asked.
"Never, never! But you and Monsieur Philippe are already
betrothed before Heaven; and I should despise you, Charlotte, I
should despise him, were either to draw back." This little point
being settled in Miss Charlotte's mind, I can fancy she is immensely
soothed and comforted ; that hope and courage settle in her heart ;
that the colour comes back to her young cheeks ; that she can come
and join her family as she did yesterday. " I told you she never
cared about him," says Mrs. Baynes to her husband. " Faith, no :
she can't have cared for him much," says Baynes, with something
of a sorrow that his girl should be so light-minded. But you and
I, who have been behind the scenes, who have peeped into Philip's
bedroom and behind poor Charlotte's modest curtains, know that
the girl had revolted from her parents ; and so children will if the
authority exercised over them is too tyrannical or unjust. Gentle
Charlotte, who scarce ever resisted, was aroused and in rebellion :
honest Charlotte, who used to speak all her thoughts, now hid
them, and deceived father and mother:—yes, deceived:—what a
confession to make regarding a young lady, the prima donna of
our opera ! Mrs. Baynes is, as usual, writing her lengthy scrawls
to sister MacWhirter at Tours, and informs the Major's lady that
she has very great satisfaction in at last being able to announce