"
With those words, Mrs. Drake, the housekeeper, closed the door; and the
new parlor-maid was left alone in her bed-chamber at St. Crux.
That day was the eventful twenty-fifth of February. In barely four
months from the time when Mrs. Lecount had placed her master's
private Instructions in his Executor's hands, the one combination of
circumstances against which it had been her first and foremost object to
provide was exactly the combination which had now taken place. Mr. Noel
Vanstone's widow and Admiral Bartram's Secret Trust were together in the
same house.
Thus far, events had declared themselves without an exception in
Magdalen's favor. Thus far, the path which had led her to St. Crux had
been a path without an obstacle: Louisa, whose name she had now taken,
had sailed three days since for Australia, with her husband and her
child; she was the only living creature whom Magdalen had trusted with
her secret, and she was by this time out of sight of the English land.
The girl had been careful, reliable and faithfully devoted to her
mistress's interests to the last. She had passed the ordeal of
her interview with the housekeeper, and had forgotten none of the
instructions by which she had been prepared to meet it.
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