len; the terror of
finding himself discovered by the housekeeper; the tormenting suspicion
of the hard pecuniary conditions which Magdalen's relative and guardian
might impose on him--all these emotions, stirring in conflict together,
had overpowered his feebly-working heart with a trial that strained
it sorely. He gasped for breath as he sat down in the parlor at North
Shingles, and that ominous bluish pallor which always overspread his
face in moments of agitation now made its warning appearance again.
Captain Wragge seized the brandy bottle in genuine alarm, and forced his
visitor to drink a wine-glassful of the spirit before a word was said
between them on either side.

Restored by the stimulant, and encouraged by the readiness with which
the captain anticipated everything that he had to say, Noel Vanstone
contrived to state the serious object of his visit in tolerably plain
terms. All the conventional preliminaries proper to the occasion were
easily disposed of. The suitor's family was respectable; his position
in life was undeniably satisfactory; his attachment, though hasty, was
evidently disinterested and sincere. All that Captain Wragge had to
do was to refer to these various considerations with a happy choice of
language in a voice that trembled with manly emotion, and this he did
to perfection. For the first half-hour of the interview, no allusion
whatever was made to the delicate and dangerous part of the subject. The
captain waited until he had composed his visitor, and when that result
was achieved came smoothly to the point in these terms:

"There is one little difficulty, Mr. Vanstone, which I think we have
both overlooked. Your housekeeper's recent conduct inclines me to fear
that she will view the approaching change in your life with anything but
a friendly eye. Probably you have not thought it necessary yet to inform
her of the new tie which you propose to form?"

Noel Vanstone turned pale at the bare idea of explaining himself to Mrs.
Lecount.

"I can't tell what I'm to do," he said, glancing aside nervously at the
window, as if he expected to see the housekeeper peeping in. "I hate all
awkward positions, and this is the most unpleasant position I ever was
placed in. You don't know what a terrible woman Lecount is. I'm not
afraid of her; pray don't suppose I'm afraid of her--"

At those words his fears rose in his throat, and gave him the lie direct
by stopping his utterance.

"Pray don't trou