"Take Mrs. Wragge,
by all means. I don't want her." Having resigned the partner of his
existence in those terms, he discreetly returned to the parlor. "The
weakness of the sex!" thought the captain, tapping his sagacious head.
"Lay a strain on the female intellect, and the female temper gives way
directly."
The strain to which the captain alluded was not confined that evening
to the female intellect at North Shingles: it extended to the female
intellect at Sea View. For nearly two hours Mrs. Lecount sat at her
desk writing, correcting, and writing again, before she could produce
a letter to Miss Vanstone, the elder, which exactly accomplished the
object she wanted to attain. At last the rough draft was completed to
her satisfaction; and she made a fair copy of it forthwith, to be posted
the next day.
Her letter thus produced was a masterpiece of ingenuity. After the first
preliminary sentences, the housekeeper plainly informed Norah of
the appearance of the visitor in disguise at Vauxhall Walk; of the
conversation which passed at the interview; and of her own suspicion
that the person claiming to be Miss Garth was, in all probability, the
younger Miss Vanstone herself.
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