"There is the letter that might have ruined us if it had ever reached
its address," he said. "Read it carefully. I have a question to ask you
when you have done."
Magdalen read the letter. "What is this proof," she inquired, "which
Mrs. Lecount relies on so confidently!"
"The very question I was going to ask you," said Captain Wragge.
"Consult your memory of what happened when you tried that experiment in
Vauxhall Walk. Did Mrs. Lecount get no other chance against you than the
chances you have told me of already?"
"She discovered that my face was disguised, and she heard me speak in my
own voice."
"And nothing more?"
"Nothing more."
"Very good. Then my interpretation of the letter is clearly the right
one. The proof Mrs. Lecount relies on is my wife's infernal ghost
story--which is, in plain English, the story of Miss Bygrave having been
seen in Miss Vanstone's disguise; the witness being the very person who
is afterward presented at Aldborough in the character of Miss Bygrave's
aunt. An excellent chance for Mrs. Lecount, if she can only lay her hand
at the right time on Mrs. Wragge, and no chance at all, if she can't.
Make your mind easy on that point.
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