come for. Mrs. Lecount has told
you of her visit here, and has no doubt declared that my niece's illness
is a mere subterfuge. You feel surprised--you feel hurt--you suspect
me of trifling with your kind sympathies--in short, you require an
explanation. That explanation you shall have. Take a seat. Mr. Vanstone.
I am about to throw myself on your sense and judgment as a man of the
world. I acknowledge that we are in a false position, sir; and I tell
you plainly at the outset--your housekeeper is the cause of it."

For once in his life, Noel Vanstone opened his eyes. "Lecount!" he
exclaimed, in the utmost bewilderment.

"The same, sir," replied Captain Wragge. "I am afraid I offended Mrs.
Lecount, when she came here this morning, by a want of cordiality in my
manner. I am a plain man, and I can't assume what I don't feel. Far be
it from me to breathe a word against your housekeeper's character. She
is, no doubt, a most excellent and trustworthy woman, but she has one
serious failing common to persons at her time of life who occupy her
situation--she is jealous of her influence over her master, although you
may not have observed it."

"I beg your pardon," interposed Noel Vanstone; "my observation is
remarkably quick. Nothing escapes me."

"In that case, sir," resumed the captain, "you cannot fail to have
noticed that Mrs. Lecount has allowed her jealousy to affect her conduct
toward my niece?"

Noel Vanstone thought of the domestic passage at arms between Mrs.
Lecount and himself when his guests of the evening had left Sea View,
and failed to see his way to any direct reply. He expressed the utmost
surprise and distress--he thought Lecount had done her best to be
agreeable on the drive to Dunwich--he hoped and trusted there was some
unfortunate mistake.

"Do you mean to say, sir," pursued the captain, severely, "that you have
not noticed the circumstance yourself? As a man of honor and a man of
observation, you can't tell me that! Your housekeeper's superficial
civility has not hidden your housekeeper's real feeling. My niece has
seen it, and so have you, and so have I. My niece, Mr. Vanstone, is
a sensitive, high-spirited girl; and she has positively declined to
cultivate Mrs. Lecount's society for the future. Don't misunderstand me!
To my niece as well as to myself, the attraction of _your_ society, Mr.
Vanstone, remains the same. Miss Bygrave simply declines to be an apple
of discord (if you will permit the cla