Don't acknowledge just yet that Mr. Kirke only knew her as
Miss Bygrave of North Shingles when he found her in this house. Tell her
boldly that he knew who she was, and that he felt (what she must feel)
that he had a hereditary right to help and protect her as his father's
son. I am, as I have already told you," continued the captain, sticking
fast to his old assertion, "a distant relative of the Combe-Raven
family; and, if there is nobody else at hand to help you through this
difficulty, my services are freely at your disposal."
No one else was at hand, and the emergency was a serious one.
Strangers undertaking the responsibility might ignorantly jar on past
recollections, which it would, perhaps, be the death of her to revive
too soon. Near relatives might, by their premature appearance at the
bedside, produce the same deplorable result. The alternative lay between
irritating and alarming her by leaving her inquiries unanswered, or
trusting Captain Wragge. In the doctor's opinion, the second risk was
the least serious risk of the two--and the captain was now seated at
Magdalen's bedside in discharge of the trust confided to him.
Would she ask the question which it had been the private object of all
Captain Wragge's preliminary talk lightly and pleasantly to provoke?
Yes; as soon as his silence gave her the opportunity, she asked it: "Who
was that friend of his living in the house?"
"You ought by rights to know him as well as I do," said the captain.
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