ened his
Book of Accounts, and made the closing entry--the entry of his last
transaction with Magdalen--in black and white. "By Rec'd from Miss
Vanstone," wrote the captain, with a gloomy brow, "Two hundred pounds."

"You won't be angry with me?" said Mrs. Wragge, looking timidly at her
husband through her tears. "I want a word of comfort, captain. Oh, do
tell me, when shall I see her again?"

The captain closed the book, and answered in one inexorable word:
"Never!"

Between eleven and twelve o'clock that night Mrs. Lecount drove into
Zurich.

Her brother's house, when she stopped before it, was shut up. With some
difficulty and delay the servant was aroused. She held up her hands in
speechless amazement when she opened the door and saw who the visitor
was.

"Is my brother alive?" asked Mrs. Lecount, entering the house.

"Alive!" echoed the servant. "He has gone holiday-making into the
country, to finish his recovery in the fine fresh air."

The housekeeper staggered back against the wall of the passage. The
coachman and the servant put her into a chair. Her face was livid, and
her teeth chattered in her head.

"Send for my brother's doctor," she said, as soon as she could speak.

The doctor came. She handed him a letter before he could say a word.

"Did you write that letter?"

He looked it over rapidly, and answered her without hesitation,

"Certainly not!"

"It is your handwriting."

"It is a forgery of my handwriting."

She rose from the chair with a new strength in her.

"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 B