Lecount had heard
her. On the favorable side of the question, he was perfectly satisfied
that the painted face and eyelids, the wig, and the padded cloak had
so effectually concealed Magdalen's identity, that she might in her own
person defy the housekeeper's closest scrutiny, so far as the matter
of appearance was concerned. The difficulty of deceiving Mrs. Lecount's
ears, as well as her eyes, was, he readily admitted, not so easily to
be disposed of. But looking to the fact that Magdalen, on both the
occasions when she had forgotten herself, had spoken in the heat of
anger, he was of opinion that her voice had every reasonable chance of
escaping detection, if she carefully avoided all outbursts of temper for
the future, and spoke in those more composed and ordinary tones which
Mrs. Lecount had not yet heard. Upon the whole, the captain was inclined
to pronounce the prospect hopeful, if one serious obstacle were cleared
away at the outset--that obstacle being nothing less than the presence
on the scene of action of Mrs. Wragge.
To Magdalen's surprise, when the course of her narrative brought her to
the story of the ghost, Captain Wragge listened with the air of a man
who was more annoyed than amused by what he heard.
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