e day by taking a long drive to a place on the
coast here called Dunwich. He is anxious to know if you will share the
expense of a carriage, and give him the pleasure of your company and
Miss Bygrave's company on this excursion. I am kindly permitted to
be one of the party; and if I may say so without impropriety, I would
venture to add that I shall feel as much pleasure as my master if
you and your young lady will consent to join us. We propose leaving
Aldborough punctually at eleven o'clock. Believe me, dear sir, your
humble servant,

"VIRGINIE LECOUNT."

"Who is the letter from?" asked Magdalen, noticing a change in Captain
Wragge's face as he read it. "What do they want with us at Sea-view
Cottage?"

"Pardon me," said the captain, gravely, "this requires consideration.
Let me have a minute or two to think."

He took a few turns up and down the room, then suddenly stepped aside to
a table in a corner on which his writing materials were placed. "I
was not born yesterday, ma'am!" said the captain, speaking jocosely to
himself. He winked his brown eye, took up his pen, and wrote the answer.

"Can you speak now?" inquired Magdalen, when the servant had left the
room. "What does that letter say, and how have you answered it?"

The captain placed the letter in her hand. "I have accepted the
invitation," he replied, quietly.

Magdalen read the letter. "Hidden enmity yesterday," she said, "and open
friendship to-day. What does it mean?"

"It means," said Captain Wragge, "that Mrs. Lecount is even sharper than
I thought her. She has found you out."

"Impossible," cried Magdalen. "Quite impossible in the time."

"I can't say _how_ she has found you out," proceeded the captain, with
perfect composure. "She may know more of your voice than we supposed
she knew. Or she may have thought us, on reflection, rather a suspicious
family; and anything suspicious in which a woman was concerned may have
taken her mind back to that morning call of yours in Vauxhall Walk.
Whichever way it may be, the meaning of this sudden change is clear
enough. She has found you out; and she wants to put her discovery to the
proof by slipping in an awkward question or two, under cover of a little
friendly talk. My experience of humanity has been a varied one, and
Mrs. Lecount is not the first sharp practitioner in petticoats whom I
have had to deal with. All the world's a stage, my dear girl, and one of
the scenes on our little stage is shut