"You are fatiguing yourself, sir," she said to her master. "This is one
of your bad days. Let me recommend you to be careful; let me beg you to
walk back."
Having carried his point by inviting the new acquaintances to tea, Noel
Vanstone proved to be unexpectedly docile. He acknowledged that he was
a little fatigued, and turned back at once in obedience to the
housekeeper's advice.
"Take my arm, sir--take my arm on the other side," said Captain Wragge,
as they turned to retrace their steps. His party-colored eyes looked
significantly at Magdalen while he spoke, and warned her not to stretch
Mrs. Lecount's endurance too far at starting. She instantly understood
him; and, in spite of Noel Vanstone's reiterated assertions that he
stood in no need of the captain's arm, placed herself at once by the
housekeeper's side. Mrs. Lecount recovered her good-humor, and opened
another conversation with Magdalen by making the one inquiry of all
others which, under existing circumstances, was the hardest to answer.
"I presume Mrs. Bygrave is too tired, after her journey, to come out
to-day?" said Mrs. Lecount. "Shall we have the pleasure of seeing her
tomorrow?"
"Probably not," replied Magdalen.
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