her doubt
was now at an end. Mrs. Lecount had written to her master--therefore
Mrs. Lecount was on her way to Zurich!

With his head higher than ever, with the tails of his respectable
frock-coat floating behind him in the breeze, with his bosom's native
impudence sitting lightly on its throne, the captain strutted to the inn
and called for the railway time-table. After making certain calculations
(in black and white, as a matter of course), he ordered his chaise to
be ready in an hour--so as to reach the railway in time for the
second train running to London--with which there happened to be no
communication from Aldborough by coach.

His next proceeding was of a far more serious kind; his next proceeding
implied a terrible certainty of success. The day of the week was
Thursday. From the inn he went to the church, saw the clerk, and gave
the necessary notice for a marriage by license on the following Monday.

Bold as he was, his nerves were a little shaken by this last
achievement; his hand trembled as it lifted the latch of the garden
gate. He doctored his nerves with brandy and water before he sent
for Magdalen to inform her of the proceedings of the morning. Another
outbreak might reasonably be expected when she heard that the last
irrevocable step had been taken, and that notice had been given of the
wedding-day.

The captain's watch warned him to lose no time in emptying his glass. In
a few minutes he sent the necessary message upstairs. While waiting for
Magdalen's appearance, he provided himself with certain materials which
were now necessary to carry the enterprise to its crowning point. In the
first place, he wrote his assumed name (by no means in so fine a hand as
usual) on a blank visiting-card, and added underneath these words: "Not
a moment is to be lost. I am waiting for you at the door--come down to
me directly." His next proceeding was to take some half-dozen envelopes
out of the case, and to direct them all alike to the following address:
"Thomas Bygrave, Esq., Mussared's Hotel, Salisbury Street, Strand,
London." After carefully placing the envelopes and the card in his
breast-pocket, he shut up the desk. As he rose from the writing-table,
Magdalen came into the room.

The captain took a moment to decide on the best method of opening the
interview, and determined, in his own phrase, to dash at it. In two
words he told Magdalen what had happened, and informed her that Monday
was to be her wedding-d