CHAPTER IV.
MRS. LECOUNT returned to the parlor, with the fragment of Magdalen's
dress in one hand, and with Captain Wragge's letter in the other.
"Have you got rid of her?" asked Noel Vanstone. "Have you shut the door
at last on Miss Garth?"
"Don't call her Miss Garth, sir," said Mrs. Lecount, smiling
contemptuously. "She is as much Miss Garth as you are. We have been
favored by the performance of a clever masquerade; and if we had taken
the disguise off our visitor, I think we should have found under it Miss
Vanstone herself.--Here is a letter for you, sir, which the postman has
just left."
She put the letter on the table within her master's reach. Noel
Vanstone's amazement at the discovery just communicated to him kept his
whole attention concentrated on the housekeeper's face. He never so much
as looked at the letter when she placed it before him.
"Take my word for it, sir," proceeded Mrs. Lecount, composedly taking a
chair. "When our visitor gets home she will put her gray hair away in a
box, and will cure that sad affliction in her eyes with warm water and a
sponge. If she had painted the marks on her face, as well as she painted
the inflammation in her eyes, the light would have shown me nothing,
and I should certainly have been deceived.
Pages:
467
468
469
470
471
472
473
474
475
476
477
478
479
480
481
482
483
484
485
486
487
488
489
490
491