It only contained these words: "Give yourself no trouble
about settlements. Leave the use to which he is to put his money for the
future in my hands."
"Did you see her?" asked the captain, when his wife had delivered the
answer.
"I tried," said Mrs. Wragge, with a fresh burst of tears--"but she only
opened the door far enough to put out her hand. I took and gave it a
little squeeze--and, oh poor soul, it felt so cold in mine!"
When Mrs. Lecount's master made his appearance at two o'clock, he stood
alarmingly in need of an anodyne application from Mrs. Lecount's green
fan. The agitation of making his avowal to Magdalen; the terror of
finding himself discovered by the housekeeper; the tormenting suspicion
of the hard pecuniary conditions which Magdalen's relative and guardian
might impose on him--all these emotions, stirring in conflict together,
had overpowered his feebly-working heart with a trial that strained
it sorely. He gasped for breath as he sat down in the parlor at North
Shingles, and that ominous bluish pallor which always overspread his
face in moments of agitation now made its warning appearance again.
Captain Wragge seized the brandy bottle in genuine alarm, and forced his
visitor to drink a wine-glassful of the spirit before a word was said
between them on either side.
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