Who
is that lady?"
"That's Mrs. Strickland, sir."
"Ay! ay! The clergyman's wife and the captain's sister. Where's the
captain to-day?"
"On his way to London, I should think, sir. His ship sails for China at
the end of the week."
China! As that one word passed the man's lips, a pang of the old sorrow
struck Magdalen to the heart. Stranger as he was, she began to hate the
bare mention of the merchant-captain's name. He had troubled her dreams
of the past night; and now, when she was most desperately and recklessly
bent on forgetting her old home-existence, he had been indirectly the
cause of recalling her mind to Frank.
"Come!" she said, angrily, to her companion. "What do we care about the
man or his ship? Come away."
"By all means," said Captain Wragge. "As long as we don't find friends
of the Bygraves, what do we care about anybody?"
They walked on southward for ten minutes or more, then turned and walked
back again to meet Noel Vanstone and Mrs. Lecount.
CHAPTER IV.
CAPTAIN WRAGGE and Magdalen retraced their steps until they were again
within view of North Shingles Villa before any signs appeared of Mrs.
Lecount and her master.
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