Bygrave's niece and Mrs. Lecount's description are at variance with each
other in the most important particular, and beg that the subject may not
be mentioned again. There is my advice. What do you think of it?"
If Noel Vanstone could have looked into his counselor's mind, he might
have thought the captain's advice excellently adapted to serve the
captain's interests. As long as Mrs. Lecount could be kept in ignorance
of her master's visits to North Shingles, so long she would wait until
the opportunity came for trying her experiment, and so long she might
be trusted not to endanger the conspiracy by any further proceedings.
Necessarily incapable of viewing Captain Wragge's advice under this
aspect, Noel Vanstone simply looked at it as offering him a temporary
means of escape from an explanation with his housekeeper. He eagerly
declared that the course of action suggested to him should be followed
to the letter, and returned to Sea View without further delay.
On this occasion Captain Wragge's anticipations were in no respect
falsified by Mrs. Lecount's conduct. She had no suspicion of her
master's visit to North Shingles: she had made up her mind, if
necessary, to wait patiently for his interview with Miss Bygrave until
the end of the week; and she did not embarrass him by any unexpected
questions when he announced his intention of holding no personal
communication with the Bygraves on that day.
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