ken. It made me miserable that I could not stir or speak when he
went. I tried to rise--I tried to cry out. Oh, why did you let him leave
you with such unlawful hopes!"

Charlotte saw Ottilie's condition, and she felt for it; but she hoped
that by time and persuasion she might be able to prevail upon her. On
her uttering a few words, however, which pointed to a future--to a time
when her sufferings would be alleviated, and when there might be better
room for hope, "No!" Ottilie cried, with vehemence, "do not endeavor to
move me; do not seek to deceive me. At the moment at which I learn that
you have consented to the separation, in that same lake I will expiate
my errors and my crimes."

CHAPTER XV

Friends and relatives, and all persons living in the same house
together, are apt, when life is going smoothly and peacefully with them,
to make what they are doing, or what they are going to do, even more
than is right or necessary, a subject of constant conversation. They
talk to each other of their plans and their occupations, and, without
exactly taking one another's advice, consider and discuss together the
entire progress of their lives. But this is far from being the case in
serious moments; just when it would seem men most require the assistance
and support of others, they all draw singly within themselves, every one
to act for himself, every one to work in his own fashion; they conceal
from one another the particular means which they employ, and only the
result, the object, the thing which they realize, is again made common
property.

After so many strange and unfortunate incidents, a sort of silent
seriousness had passed over the two ladies, which showed itself in a
sweet mutual effort to spare each other's feelings. The child had been
buried privately in the chapel. It rested there as the first offering to
a destiny full of ominous foreshadowings.

Charlotte, as soon as ever she could, turned back to life and
occupation, and here she first found Ottilie standing in need of her
assistance. She occupied herself almost entirely with her, without
letting it be observed. She knew how deeply the noble girl loved Edward.
She had discovered by degrees the scene which had preceded the accident,
and had gathered every circumstance of it, partly from Ottilie herself,
partly from the letters of the Major.

Ottilie, on her side, made Charlotte's immediate life much more easy for
her. She was open, and even talkat