on the rock-work, in the back-yard view from the window; in
her own plump fair hands,--which she rubbed softly one over the other
while she spoke; in her own pretty cambric chemisette, which she had
a habit of looking at complacently while she listened to others. The
elegant black gown in which she mourned the memory of Michael Vanstone
was not a mere dress--it was a well-made compliment paid to Death. Her
innocent white muslin apron was a little domestic poem in itself. Her
jet earrings were so modest in their pretensions that a Quaker might
have looked at them and committed no sin. The comely plumpness of
her face was matched by the comely plumpness of her figure; it glided
smoothly over the ground; it flowed in sedate undulations when she
walked. There are not many men who could have observed Mrs. Lecount
entirely from the Platonic point of view--lads in their teens would
have found her irresistible--women only could have hardened their hearts
against her, and mercilessly forced their way inward through that fair
and smiling surface. Magdalen's first glance at this Venus of the autumn
period of female life more than satisfied her that she had done well
to feel her ground in disguise before she ventured on matching herself
against Mrs. Lecount.

"Have I the pleasure of addressing the lady who called this morning?"
inquired the housekeeper. "Am I speaking to Miss Garth?"

Something in the expression of her eyes, as she asked that question,
warned Magdalen to turn her face further inward from the window than she
had turned it yet. The bare doubt whether the housekeeper might not have
seen her already under too strong a light shook her self-possession for
the moment. She gave herself time to recover it, and merely answered by
a bow.

"Accept my excuses, ma'am, for the place in which I am compelled to
receive you," proceeded Mrs. Lecount in fluent English, spoken with a
foreign accent. "Mr. Vanstone is only here for a temporary purpose. We
leave for the sea-side to-morrow afternoon, and it has not been thought
worth while to set the house in proper order. Will you take a seat, and
oblige me by mentioning the object of your visit?"

She glided imperceptibly a step or two nearer to Magdalen, and placed
a chair for her exactly opposite the light from the window. "Pray sit
down," said Mrs. Lecount, looking with the tenderest interest at the
visitor's inflamed eyes through the visitor's net veil.

"I am suffering, as you