Mrs. Lecount closed the door softly,
listened for a moment in the passage, and heard the servant noisily
occupied in the kitchen with her pots and pans. "If my lucky star leads
me straight into Miss Bygrave's room," thought the housekeeper, stealing
noiselessly up the stairs, "I may find my way to her wardrobe without
disturbing anybody."
She tried the door nearest to the front of the house on the right-hand
side of the landing. Capricious chance had deserted her already. The
lock was turned. She tried the door opposite, on her left hand.
The boots ranged symmetrically in a row, and the razors on the
dressing-table, told her at once that she had not found the right room
yet. She returned to the right-hand side of the landing, walked down a
little passage leading to the back of the house, and tried a third door.
The door opened, and the two opposite extremes of female humanity, Mrs.
Wragge and Mrs. Lecount, stood face to face in an instant!
"I beg ten thousand pardons!" said Mrs. Lecount, with the most
consummate self-possession.
"Lord bless us and save us!" cried Mrs. Wragge, with the most helpless
amazement.
The two exclamations were uttered in a moment, and in that moment Mrs.
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