artram 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. I have applied to your lawyer in
London, and have been told, in reply, that you have forbidden him to
disclose the place of your retreat to any one without first receiving
your permission to do so. All I could prevail on him to say was, that
he would forward any letter which might be sent to his care. I write
accordingly, and mind this, I expect an answer.

"You may ask, in your ill-tempered way, what business I have to meddle
with affairs of yours which it is your pleasure to keep private. My dear
Noel, there is a serious reason for our opening communications with you
from this house. You don't know what events have taken place at St. Crux
since you ran away to get married; and though I detest writing letters,
I must lose an hour's shooting to-day in trying to enlighten you.

"On the twenty-third of last month, the admiral and I were disturbed
over our wine after dinner by the announcement that a visitor had
unexpectedly arrived at St. Crux. Who do you think the visitor was? Mrs.
Lecount!

"My uncle, with that old-fashioned bachelor gallantry of his which pays
equal respect to all wearers of petticoats, left the table directly to
welcome Mrs. Lecount. While I was debating whether I should follow him
or not, my meditations were suddenly brought to an end by a loud call
from the admiral. I ran into the morning-room, and there was your
unfortunate housekeeper on the sofa, with all the women servants about
her, more dead than alive. She had traveled from England to Zurich, and
from Zurich back again to England, without stopping; and she looked,
seriously and literally, at death's door. I immediately agreed with my
uncle that the first thing to be done was to send for medical help. We
dispatched a groom on the spot, and, at Mrs. Lecount's own request, sent
all the servants in a body out of the room.

"As soon as we were alone, Mrs. Lecount surprised us by a singular
question. She asked if you had received a letter which she had addressed
to you before leaving England at this house. When we told her that the
letter had been forwar