The
skirt of the false Miss Garth's gown--the brown alpaca dress, with the
white spots on it--touched the floor, within the housekeeper's reach.
Mrs. Lecount lifted the outer of the two flounces which ran round
the bottom of the dress one over the other, softly cut away a little
irregular fragment of stuff from the inner flounce, and neatly smoothed
the outer one over it again, so as to hide the gap. By the time she
had put the scissors back in her pocket, and had risen to her feet
(sheltering herself behind the post of the folding-door), Magdalen had
spoken her last words. Mrs. Lecount quietly repeated the ceremony of
opening and shutting the back parlor door; and returned to her place.
"What has happened, sir, in my absence?" she inquired, addressing her
master with a look of alarm. "You are pale; you are agitated! Oh, Miss
Garth, have you forgotten the caution I gave you in the other room?"
"Miss Garth has forgotten everything," cried Noel Vanstone, recovering
his lost composure on the re-appearance of Mrs. Lecount. "Miss Garth
has threatened me in the most outrageous manner. I forbid you to pity
either of those two girls any more, Lecount--especially the younger
one.
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