"When does the return mail start for Paris?" she asked.
"In half an hour."
"Send instantly and take me a place in it!"
The servant hesitated, the doctor protested. She turned a deaf ear to
them both.
"Send!" she reiterated, "or I will go myself."
They obeyed. The servant went to take the place: the doctor remained and
held a conversation with Mrs. Lecount. When the half-hour had passed,
he helped her into her place in the mail, and charged the conductor
privately to take care of his passenger.
"She has traveled from England without stopping," said the doctor; "and
she is traveling back again without rest. Be careful of her, or she will
break down under the double journey."
The mail started. Before the first hour of the new day was at an end
Mrs. Lecount was on her way back to England.
THE END OF THE FOURTH SCENE.
BETWEEN THE SCENES.
PROGRESS OF THE STORY THROUGH THE POST.
I.
_From George Bartram to Noel Vanstone._
"St. Crux, September 4th, 1847.
"MY DEAR NOEL--Here are two plain questions at starting. In the name of
all that is mysterious, what are you hiding for? And why is everything
relating to your marriage kept an impenetrable secret from your oldest
friends?
"I have been to Aldborough to try if I could trace you from that place,
and have come back as wise as I went.
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