"My aunt is in delicate health."
"A complicated case, my dear madam," added the captain; conscious
that Mrs. Wragge's personal appearance (if she happened to be seen by
accident) would offer the flattest of all possible contradictions
to what Magdalen had just said of her. "There is some remote nervous
mischief which doesn't express itself externally. You would think my
wife the picture of health if you looked at her, and yet, so delusive
are appearances, I am obliged to forbid her all excitement. She sees no
society--our medical attendant, I regret to say, absolutely prohibits
it."
"Very sad," said Mrs. Lecount. "The poor lady must often feel lonely,
sir, when you and your niece are away from her?"
"No," replied the captain. "Mrs. Bygrave is a naturally domestic woman.
When she is able to employ herself, she finds unlimited resources in her
needle and thread." Having reached this stage of the explanation, and
having purposely skirted, as it were, round the confines of truth, in
the event of the housekeeper's curiosity leading her to make any private
inquiries on the subject of Mrs. Wragge, the captain wisely checked his
fluent tongue from carrying him into any further details.
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