safely engage her to come here in six
weeks' time; I shall be back then, if Mr. George is not. If she refuses,
pay her what compensation is right, and so have done with her. Yours,

"ARTHUR BARTRAM."

IV.

_From Mrs. Drake to Admiral Bartram._

"January 11th.

"HONORED SIR--I hope to get my errands done, and to return to St. Crux
to-morrow, but write to save you anxiety, in case of delay.

"The young woman whom I have engaged (Louisa by name) is willing to wait
your time; and her present mistress, taking an interest in her welfare,
will provide for her during the interval. She understands that she is to
enter on her new service in six weeks from the present date--namely, on
the twenty-fifth of February next.

"Begging you will accept my respectful sympathy under the sad
bereavement which has befallen the family,

"I remain, honored sir, your humble servant,

"SOPHIA DRAKE."

THE SEVENTH SCENE.

ST. CRUX-IN-THE-MARSH.

CHAPTER I.

"THIS is where you are to sleep. Put yourself tidy, and then come down
again to my room. The admiral has returned, and you will have to begin
by waiting on him at dinner to-day."

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. She had herself
proposed to turn the six weeks' delay, caused by the