ce
on the scene of action of Mrs. Wragge.

To Magdalen's surprise, when the course of her narrative brought her to
the story of the ghost, Captain Wragge listened with the air of a man
who was more annoyed than amused by what he heard. When she had done,
he plainly told her that her unlucky meeting on the stairs of the
lodging-house with Mrs. Wragge was, in his opinion, the most serious of
all the accidents that had happened in Vauxhall Walk.

"I can deal with the difficulty of my wife's stupidity," he said, "as
I have often dealt with it before. I can hammer her new identity _into_
her head, but I can't hammer the ghost _out_ of it. We have no security
that the woman in the gray cloak and poke bonnet may not come back to
her recollection at the most critical time, and under the most awkward
circumstances. In plain English, my dear girl, Mrs. Wragge is a pitfall
under our feet at every step we take."

"If we are aware of the pitfall," said Magdalen, "we can take our
measures for avoiding it. What do you propose?"

"I propose," replied the captain, "the temporary removal of Mrs. Wragge.
Speaking purely in a pecuniary point of view, I can't afford a total
separation from her. You have often read of very poor people being
suddenly enriched by legacies reaching them from remote and unexpected
quarters? Mrs. Wragge's case, when I married her, was one of these. An
elderly female relative shared the favors of fortune on that occasion
with my wife; and if I only keep up domestic appearances, I happen to
know that Mrs. Wragge will prove a second time profitable to me on that
elderly relative's death. But for this circumstance, I should probably
long since have transferred my wife to the care of society at large--in
the agreeable conviction that if I didn't support her, somebody else
would. Although I can't afford to take this course, I see no objection
to having her comfortably boarded and lodged out of our way for the
time being--say, at a retired farm-house, in the character of a lady in
infirm mental health. _You_ would find the expense trifling; _I_ should
find the relief unutterable. What do you say? Shall I pack her up at
once, and take her away by the next coach?"

"No!" replied Magdalen, firmly. "The poor creature's life is hard enough
already; I won't help to make it harder. She was affectionately and
truly kind to me when I was ill, and I won't allow her to be shut up
among strangers while I can help it. The risk