r of the
coming Monday--the merciless certainty implied in the appointment of the
day and hour--petrified all feeling in her, and annihilated all thought.
Mrs. Wragge made three separate attempts to enter on the subject of the
housekeeper's visit. The first time she might as well have addressed
herself to the wind, or to the sea. The second attempt seemed likely
to be more successful. Magdalen sighed, listened for a moment
indifferently, and then dismissed the subject. "It doesn't matter," she
said. "The end has come all the same. I'm not angry with you. Say no
more." Later in the day, from not knowing what else to talk about, Mrs.
Wragge tried again. This time Magdalen turned on her impatiently. "For
God's sake, don't worry me about trifles! I can't bear it." Mrs. Wragge
closed her lips on the spot, and returned to the subject no more.
Magdalen, who had been kind to her at all other times, had angrily
forbidden it. The captain--utterly ignorant of Mrs. Lecount's interest
in the secrets of the wardrobe--had never so much as approached it. All
the information that he had extracted from his wife's mental confusion,
he had extracted by putting direct questions, derived purely from
the resources of his own knowledge. He had insisted on plain answers,
without excuses of any kind; he had carried his point as usual; and
his departure the same morning had left him no chance of re-opening the
question, even if his irritation against his wife had permitted him
to do so. There the Alpaca dress hung, neglected in the dark--the
unnoticed, unsuspected center of dangers that were still to come.

Toward the afternoon Mrs. Wragge took courage to start a suggestion of
her own--she pleaded for a little turn in the fresh air.

Magdalen passively put on her hat; passively accompanied her companion
along the public walk, until they reached its northward extremity. Here
the beach was left solitary, and here they sat down, side by side, on
the shingle. It was a bright, exhilarating day; pleasure-boats were
sailing on the calm blue water; Aldborough was idling happily afloat
and ashore. Mrs. Wragge recovered her spirits in the gayety of the
prospect--she amused herself like a child, by tossing pebbles into the
sea. From time to time she stole a questioning glance at Magdalen, and
saw no encouragement in her manner, no change to cordiality in her face.
She sat silent on the slope of the shingle, with her elbow on her knee,
and her head resting