er these circumstances, what was the safe course to take with her
master?

If she candidly told him, when they met the next morning, what had
passed through her mind that night, her knowledge of Noel Vanstone
warned her that one of two results would certainly happen. Either he
would be angry and disputatious; would ask for proofs; and, finding none
forthcoming, would accuse her of alarming him without a cause, to serve
her own jealous end of keeping Magdalen out of the house; or he would
be seriously startled, would clamor for the protection of the law, and
would warn the Bygraves to stand on their defense at the outset. If
Magdalen only had been concerned in the plot this latter consequence
would have assumed no great importance in the housekeeper's mind. But
seeing the deception as she now saw it, she was far too clever a woman
to fail in estimating the captain's inexhaustible fertility of resource
at its true value. "If I can't meet this impudent villain with plain
proofs to help me," thought Mrs. Lecount, "I may open my master s eyes
to-morrow morning, and Mr. Bygrave will shut them up again before night.
The rascal is playing with all his own cards under the table, and he
will win the game to a certainty, if he sees my hand at starting."

This policy of waiting was so manifestly the wise policy--the wily Mr.
Bygrave was so sure to have provided himself, in case of emergency, with
evidence to prove the identity which he and his niece had assumed for
their purpose--that Mrs. Lecount at once decided to keep her own counsel
the next morning, and to pause before attacking the conspiracy until she
could produce unanswerable facts to help her. Her master's acquaintance
with the Bygraves was only an acquaintance of one day's standing. There
was no fear of its developing into a dangerous intimacy if she merely
allowed it to continue for a few days more, and if she permanently
checked it, at the latest, in a week's time.

In that period what measures could she take to remove the obstacles
which now stood in her way, and to provide herself with the weapons
which she now wanted?

Reflection showed her three different chances in her favor--three
different ways of arriving at the necessary discovery.

The first chance was to cultivate friendly terms with Magdalen, and
then, taking her unawares, to entrap her into betraying herself in Noel
Vanstone's presence. The second chance was to write to the elder
Miss Vanstone, and to