Pendril or Miss Garth--more likely
to Miss Garth. The governess would be easier to deal with than the
lawyer."
"What can she have said to Miss Garth?"
Captain Wragge considered a little.
"I can't say what Mrs. Lecount may have written," he said, "but I can
tell you what I should have written in Mrs. Lecount's place. I should
have frightened Miss Garth by false reports about you, to begin with,
and then I should have asked for personal particulars, to help a
benevolent stranger in restoring you to your friends." The angry glitter
flashed up instantly in Magdalen's eyes.
"What _you_ would have done is what Mrs. Lecount has done," she said,
indignantly. "Neither lawyer nor governess shall dispute my right to my
own will and my own way. If Miss Garth thinks she can control my actions
by corresponding with Mrs. Lecount, I will show Miss Garth she is
mistaken! It is high time, Captain Wragge, to have done with these
wretched risks of discovery. We will take the short way to the end we
have in view sooner than Mrs. Lecount or Miss Garth think for. How
long can you give me to wring an offer of marriage out of that creature
downstairs?"
"I dare not give you long," replied Captain Wragge.
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