"I—I saw——"
"A ghost?" inquired Marthe with sharp sarcasm.
Ange rose up, trembling.
"Oh, she has come back! I know it, I have felt it! She has come back," she cried.
"Ange, don't be a fool," said Marthe, but her eyes were anxious.
"Speak then, Aline, and tell us what you saw."
"It is true, she has come back," said Aline, looking away from Mlle Ange, who put her hands before her eyes with a little cry and stood so a full minute, whilst Marthe gave a harsh laugh, and then bit her lip as if in pain.
"Come back to die?" Ange said at last, very low. "Alone?"—and she turned on Aline.
"No, a niece is with her. It was she whom I saw. I knew her in Paris—in prison; and, ma tante, they have no food in the house, and I said I would take them some."
"No food goes from this house to that," said Marthe loudly, but Ange caught her hand.