e's letter to her husband. The same night Captain Wragge was in
London, and was closeted with the sailor in the second-floor room at
Aaron's Buildings.

The serious nature of the situation, the indisputable certainty that
Kirke must fail in tracing Magdalen's friends unless he first knew who
she really was, had decided the captain on disclosing part, at least, of
the truth. Declining to enter into any particulars--for family reasons,
which Magdalen might explain on her recovery, if she pleased--he
astounded Kirke by telling him that the friendless woman whom he
had rescued, and whom he had only known up to that moment as Miss
Bygrave--was no other than the youngest daughter of Andrew Vanstone. The
disclosure, on Kirke's side, of his father's connection with the
young officer in Canada, had followed naturally on the revelation of
Magdalen's real name. Captain Wragge had expressed his surprise, but had
made no further remark at the time. A fortnight later, however, when
the patient's recovery forced the serious difficulty on the doctor of
meeting the questions which Magdalen was sure to ask, the captain's
ingenuity had come, as usual, to the rescue.

"You can't tell her the truth," he said, "without awakening painful
recollections of her stay at Aldborough, into which I am not at liberty
to enter. 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