Lecount
was in search.
"There's the lot of 'em," said Mrs. Wragge. "They may do for Venus and
the two other Ones (I've seen 'em in picters without a morsel of decent
linen among the three), but they won't do for Me."
"Surely there is another dress left?" said Mrs. Lecount, pointing to the
wardrobe, but touching nothing in it. "Surely I see something hanging in
the corner behind that dark shawl?"
Mrs. Wragge removed the shawl; Mrs. Lecount opened the door of the
wardrobe a little wider. There--hitched carelessly on the innermost
peg--there, with its white spots, and its double flounce, was the brown
Alpaca dress!
The suddenness and completeness of the discovery threw the housekeeper,
practiced dissembler as she was, completely off her guard. She started
at the sight of the dress. The instant afterward her eyes turned
uneasily toward Mrs. Wragge. Had the start been observed? It had passed
entirely unnoticed. Mrs. Wragge's whole attention was fixed on the
Alpaca dress: she was staring at it incomprehensibly, with an expression
of the utmost dismay.
"You seem alarmed, ma'am," said Mrs. Lecount. "What is there in the
wardrobe to frighten you?"
"I'd have given a crown piece out of my pocket," said Mrs.
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