tened
Mrs. Lecount on a very important point which had been previously
involved in doubt. She was now satisfied that the likeliest way to
obtaining a private investigation of Magdalen's wardrobe lay through
deluding the imbecile lady, and not through bribing the ignorant
servant.

Having reached that conclusion--pregnant with coming assaults on
the weakly-fortified discretion of poor Mrs. Wragge--the housekeeper
cautiously abstained from exhibiting herself any longer under an
inquisitive aspect. She changed the conversation to local topics, waited
until she was sure of leaving an excellent impression behind her, and
then took her leave.

Three days passed; and Mrs. Lecount and her master--each with their
widely-different ends in view--watched with equal anxiety for the first
signs of returning life in the direction of North Shingles. In that
interval, no letter either from the uncle or the niece arrived for
Noel Vanstone. His sincere feeling of irritation under this neglectful
treatment greatly assisted the effect of those feigned doubts on the
subject of his absent friends which the captain had recommended him to
express in the housekeeper's presence. He confessed his apprehensions of
having been mistaken, not in Mr. Bygrave only, but even in his niece as
well, with such a genuine air of annoyance that he actually contributed
a new element of confusion to the existing perplexities of Mrs. Lecount.

On the morning of the fourth day Noel Vanstone met the postman in the
garden; and, to his great relief, discovered among the letters delivered
to him a note from Mr. Bygrave.

The date of the note was "Woodbridge," and it contained a few lines
only. Mr. Bygrave mentioned that his niece was better, and that she sent
her love as before. He proposed returning to Aldborough on the next day,
when he would have some new considerations of a strictly private nature
to present to Mr. Noel Vanstone's mind. In the meantime he would beg
Mr. Vanstone not to call at North Shingles until he received a special
invitation to do so--which invitation should certainly be given on the
day when the family returned. The motive of this apparently strange
request should be explained to Mr. Vanstone's perfect satisfaction when
he was once more united to his friends. Until that period arrived, the
strictest caution was enjoined on him in all his communications with
Mrs. Lecount; and the instant destruction of Mr. Bygrave's letter, after
due per