At that crowning point of the
description, an idea crossed his mind; his party-colored eyes twinkled;
his curly lips twisted up at the corners; Wragge was himself again.
He wheeled round suddenly from the window, and looked Noel Vanstone
straight in the face with a grimly-quiet suggestiveness of something
serious to come.
"Pray, sir, do you happen to know anything of Mrs. Lecount's family?" he
inquired.
"A respectable family," said Noel Vanstone--"that's all I know. Why do
you ask?"
"I am not usually a betting man," pursued Captain Wragge. "But on this
occasion I will lay you any wager you like there is madness in your
housekeeper's family."
"Madness!" repeated Noel Vanstone, amazedly
"Madness!" reiterated the captain, sternly tapping the note with his
forefinger. "I see the cunning of insanity, the suspicion of insanity,
the feline treachery of insanity in every line of this deplorable
document. There is a far more alarming reason, sir, than I had supposed
for Mrs. Lecount's behavior to my niece. It is clear to me that Miss
Bygrave resembles some other lady who has seriously offended your
housekeeper--who has been formerly connected, perhaps, with an outbreak
of insanity in your housekeeper--and who is now evidently confused with
my niece in your housekeeper's wandering mind.
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