While the two
were together, his main anxiety was set at rest. They kept their door
locked by his own desire while he was out of the house, and, whatever
Mrs. Wragge might do, Magdalen was to be trusted not to open it until
he came back. That night Captain Wragge enjoyed his cigar with a mind at
ease, and sipped his brandy-and-water in happy ignorance of the pitfall
which Mrs. Lecount had prepared for him in the morning.
Punctually at seven o'clock Noel Vanstone made his appearance. The
moment he entered the room Captain Wragge detected a change in his
visitor's look and manner. "Something wrong!" thought the captain. "We
have not done with Mrs. Lecount yet."
"How is Miss Bygrave this morning?" asked Noel Vanstone. "Well enough,
I hope, for our early walk?" His half-closed eyes, weak and watery with
the morning light and the morning air, looked about the room furtively,
and he shifted his place in a restless manner from one chair to another,
as he made those polite inquiries.
"My niece is better--she is dressing for the walk," replied the captain,
steadily observing his restless little friend while he spoke. "Mr.
Vanstone!" he added, on a sudden, "I am a plain Englishman--excuse
my blunt way of speaking my mind.
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