 Scene 4, Chapter 6 of No Name. This is LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Philip Griffiths. No Name by Wilkie Collins. Fourth Scene, Chapter 6. All human penetration has its limits. Accurately as Captain Rag had seen his way hither too, even his sharp insight was now at fault. He finished his cigar with the mortifying conviction that he was totally unprepared for Mrs. LeCount's next proceeding. In this emergency his experience warned him that there was one safe course and one only, which he could take. He resolved to try the confusing effect on the housekeeper of a complete change of tactics before she had time to press her advantage and attack him in the dark. With this view he sent the servant upstairs to request that Miss Bygrave would come down and speak to him. I hope I don't disturb you, said the Captain, when Magdalen entered the room, allowing me to apologise for the smell of tobacco and to say two words on the subject of our next proceedings. To put it with my customary frankness, Mrs. LeCount puzzles me, and I propose to return the compliment by puzzling her. The course of action which I have to suggest is a very simple one. I have had the honour of giving you a severe neurologic attack already, and I beg your permission, when Mr. Noel Vanstone sends to inquire tomorrow morning, to take the further liberty of laying you up all together. Question from Seaview Cottage? How is Miss Bygrave this morning? Answer from North Shingles? Much worse. Miss Bygrave is confined to her room. Question repeated every day, say for a fortnight. How is Miss Bygrave? Answer repeated, if necessary, for the same time. No better. Can you bear the imprisonment? I see no objection to your getting a breath of fresh air, the first thing in the morning, or the last thing at night. But for the whole of the day there is no disguising it. You must put yourself in the same category with Mrs. Ragh. You must keep your room. What is the object in wishing me to do this? Answered Magdalen. My object is twofold, replied the captain. I blush for my own stupidity, but the fact is, I can't see my way plainly to Mrs. LeCount's next move. All I feel sure of is that she means to make another attempt at opening her master's eyes to the truth. Whatever means she may employ to discover your identity, personal communication with you must be necessary to the accomplishment of her object. Very good. If I stop that communication, I put an obstacle in her way at starting, or as we say at cards, I force her hand. Do you see the point? Magdalen saw it plainly. The captain went on. My second reason for shutting you up, he said, refers entirely to Mrs. LeCount's master. The growth of love, my dear girl, is, in one respect, unlike all other growths. It flourishes under adverse circumstances. Our first course of action is to make Mr. Null Vanstone feel the charm of your society. Our next is to drive him distracted by the loss of it. I should have proposed a few more meetings, with a view to furthering this end, but for our present critical position toward Mrs. LeCount. As it is, we must trust the effects you produced yesterday, and try the experiment of a sudden separation, rather sooner than I could have otherwise wished. I shall see Mr. Null Vanstone, though you don't, and if there is a raw place established anywhere about the region of that gentleman's heart, trust me to hit him on it. You are now in full possession of my views. Take your time to consider, and give me your answer, yes or no. Any change is for the better, said Magdalen, which keeps me out of the company of Mrs. LeCount and her master. Let it be as you wish. She had hitherto answered faintly and wearily, but she spoke those last words with a heightened tone and a rising colour, signs which warned Captain Ragh not to press her further. Very good, said the Captain. As usual, we understand each other. I see you are tired and I won't detain you any longer. He rose to open the door, stopped halfway to it, and came back again. Leave me to arrange matters with the servant downstairs, he continued. You can't absolutely keep your bed, and we must purchase the girl's discretion when she answers the door, without taking her into our confidence, of course. I will make her understand that she is to say you are ill, just as she might say you are not at home, as a way of keeping unwelcome acquaintances out of the house. Allow me to open the door for you. I beg your pardon, you are going into Mrs. Ragh's workroom instead of going to your own. I know I am, said Magdalene. I wish to remove Mrs. Ragh from the miserable room she is in now, and to take her upstairs with me. For the evening. For the whole fortnight. Captain Ragh followed her into the dining-room, and wisely closed the door before he spoke again. Do you seriously mean to inflict my wife's society on yourself for a fortnight? He asked in great surprise. Your wife is the only innocent creature in this guilty house, she burst out vehemently. I must and will have her with me. Pray, don't agitate yourself, said the captain. Take Mrs. Ragh, by all means, I don't want her. Having resigned the partner of his existence in those terms, he discreetly returned to the parlor. The weakness of the sex thought the captain, tapping his surgesious head. Lay a strain on the female intellect, and the female temper gives way directly. The strain to which the captain alluded was not confined that evening to the female intellect at North Shingles. It extended to the female intellect at sea view. For nearly two hours Mrs. LeCount sat at her desk writing, correcting, and writing again, before she could produce a letter to Miss Vanstone the Elder, which exactly accomplished the objects she wanted to attain. At last the rough draft was completed to her satisfaction, and she made a fair copy of it forthwith, to be posted the next day. Her letter thus produced was a masterpiece of ingenuity. After the first preliminary sentences, the housekeeper plainly informed Nora of the appearance of the visitor in disguise at Vauxhall Walk, of the conversation which passed at the interview, and of her own suspicion that the person claiming to be Miss Garth was in all probability the younger Miss Vanstone herself. Having told the truth thus far, Mrs. LeCount next proceeded to say that her master was in possession of evidence which would justify him in putting the law in force. But he knew the conspiracy with which he was threatened to be, then in process of direction against him at Oldborough, and that he only hesitated to protect himself in deference to family considerations, and in the hope that the elder Miss Vanstone might so influence her sister as to render it unnecessary to proceed to extremities. Under these circumstances, the letter continued, it was plainly necessary that the disguised visitor to Vauxhall Walk should be properly identified. For if Mrs. LeCount's guess proved to be wrong, and if the person turned out to be a stranger, Mr. Noe Vanstone was positively resolved to prosecute in his own defence. Events at Oldborough, on which it was not necessary to dwell, would enable Mrs. LeCount in a few days to gain sight of the suspected person in her own character. But as the housekeeper was entirely unacquainted with the younger Miss Vanstone, it was obviously desirable that some better informed person should, in this particular, take the matter in hand. If the elder Miss Vanstone happened to be at liberty to come to Oldborough herself, would she kindly write and say so? And Mrs. LeCount would write back again to a point a day. If on the other hand, Miss Vanstone was prevented from taking the journey, Mrs. LeCount suggested that her reply should contain the fullest description of her assistant's personal appearance, should mention any little peculiarities which might exist in the way of marks on her face or her hands, and should state, in case she had written lately, what the address was in her last letter, and failing that, what the postmark was on the envelope. With this information to help her, Mrs. LeCount would, in the interest of the misguided young lady herself, accept the responsibility of privately identifying her, and would write back immediately to acquaint the elder Miss Vanstone with the result. The difficulty of sending this letter to the right address gave Mrs. LeCount very little trouble. Remembering the name of the lawyer who had pleaded the cause of the two sisters in Michael Vanstone's time, she directed her letter to Miss Vanstone, care of Pendrill, a squire, London. This she enclosed in the second envelope addressed to Mr. Noel Vanstone's solicitor, with a line inside requesting that gentleman to send it at once to the office of Mr. Pendrill. Now thought Mrs. LeCount as she locked the letter up in her desk, preparatory to posting it the next day with her own hand. Now I've got her! The next morning the servant from Seaview came, with her master's compliments, to make inquiries after Miss Bygrave's health. Captain Ragh's bulletin was duly announced that Miss Bygrave was so ill as to be confined to her room. On the reception of this intelligence, Noel Vanstone's anxiety led him to call at North Shingles himself when he went out for his afternoon walk. Miss Bygrave was no better. He inquired if he could see Mr. Bygrave. The worthy captain was prepared to meet this emergency. He thought a little irritating suspense would do Noel Vanstone no harm, and he had carefully charged the servant, in case of necessity, with her answer. Mr. Bygrave begged to be excused. He was not able to see any one. On the second day inquiries were made as before, by message in the morning, and by Noel Vanstone himself in the afternoon. The morning answer relating to Magdalene was, a shade better. The afternoon answer relating to Captain Ragh was, Mr. Bygrave has just gone out. That evening Noel Vanstone's temper was very uncertain, and Miss LaCount's patience and tact were sorely tried in the effort to avoid offending him. On the third morning the report of the suffering young lady was less favourable. Miss Bygrave was still very poorly, and not able to leave her bed. The servant returned into Seaview with this message, met the postman, and took into the breakfast-room with her two letters addressed to Mrs. LaCount. The first letter was in a handwriting familiar to the housekeeper. It was from the medical attendant on her invalid brother at Zurich, and it announced that the patient's malady had latterly altered in so marked a manner for the better that there was every hope now of preserving his life. The address on the second letter was in a strange handwriting. Mrs. LaCount concluding that it was the answer from Miss Vanstone waited to read it until breakfast was over, and she could retire to her own room. She opened the letter, looked at once for the name at the end, and started a little as she read it. The signature was not nor of Vanstone, but Harriet Garth. Miss Garth announced that the elder Miss Vanstone had, a week since, accepted an engagement as governess, subject to the condition of joining the family of her employer, had their temporary residence in the south of France, and of returning with them when they came back to England probably in a month or six weeks' time. During the interval of this necessary absence Miss Vanstone had requested Miss Garth to open all her letters. Her main object in making that arrangement being to provide for the speedy answering of any communication which might arrive for her from her sister. Miss Magdalene Vanstone had not written since the middle of July, on which occasion the postmark on the letter showed that it must have been posted in London, in the district of Lambuth, and her elder sister had left England in a state of the most distressing anxiety on her account. Having completed this explanation Miss Garth then mentioned that family circumstances prevented her from travelling personally to Aldbra to assist Miss's account's object, but that she was provided with a substitute, in every way fitter for the purpose, in the person of Mr. Pendrill. That gentleman was well acquainted with Miss Magdalene Vanstone, and his professional experience and discretion would render his assistance doubly valuable. He had kindly consented to travel to Aldbra whenever it might be thought necessary. But as his time was very valuable, Miss Garth specially requested that he might not be sent for until Mrs. LeCount was quite sure of the day on which his services might be required. While proposing this arrangement, Miss Garth added that she thought it right to furnish her correspondent with a written description of the younger Miss Vanstone as well. An emergency might happen which would allow Mrs. LeCount no time for securing Mr. Pendrill's services. And the execution of Mr. Null Vanstone's intentions toward the unhappy girl, who was the object of his forbearance, might be fatally delayed by an unforeseen difficulty in establishing her identity. The personal description transmitted under these circumstances then followed. It omitted no personal peculiarity by which Magdalene could be recognized, and it included the two little moles close together on the left side of the neck, which had been formally mentioned in the printed hand-bills sent to York. In conclusion Miss Garth expressed her fears that Mrs. LeCount's suspicions were only too likely to be proved true. While however there was the faintest chance that the conspiracy might turn out to be directed by a stranger, Miss Garth felt bound in gratitude toward Mr. Null Vanstone to assist the legal proceedings which would in that case be instituted. She accordingly appended her own formal denial which she would personally repeat if necessary of any identity between herself and the person in disguise who had made use of her name. She was the Miss Garth who had filled the situation of the late Mr. Andrew Vanstone's governess, and she had never in her life been in or near the neighbourhood of Vauxhall Walk. With this disclaimer and with the righteous fervent assurances that she would do all for Magdalene's advantage which her sister might have done if her sister had been in England, the letter concluded. It was signed in full, and was dated with the business-like accuracy in such manners which had always distinguished Miss Garth's character. This letter placed a formidable weapon in the housekeeper's hands. It provided a means of establishing Magdalene's identity through the intervention of a lawyer by profession. It contained a personal description, minute enough to be used to advantage if necessary before Mr. Pendrell's appearance. It presented the signed exposure of the false Miss Garth under the hand of the true Miss Garth, and it established the fact that the last letter received by the elder Miss Vanstone from the younger had been posted and therefore probably written in the neighbourhood of Vauxhall Walk. If any later letter had been received with the old bra postmark, the chain of evidence, so far as the question of localities was concerned, might doubtless have been more complete. But as it was there was testimony enough, aided as that testimony might be, by the fragment of the brown alpaca dress still in Mrs. Lacan's possession, to raise the veil which hung over the conspiracy, and to place Mr. Nell Vanstone face to face with the plain and startling truth. The one obstacle which now stood in the way of immediate action on the housekeeper's part was the obstacle of Miss Bygrave's present seclusion within the limits of her own room. The question of gaining personal access to her was a question which must be decided before any communication could be opened with Mr. Pendrell. Mrs. Lacan put on her bonnet at once and called at North Shingles to try what discoveries she could make for herself before post-time. On this occasion Mr. Bygrave was at home and she was admitted without the least difficulty. Several consideration that morning had decided Captain Ragh on advancing matters a little nearer to the crisis. The means by which he proposed achieving this result made it necessary for him to see the housekeeper and her master separately, and to set them at variance by producing two totally opposite impressions relating to himself on their minds. Mrs. Lacan's visit, therefore, instead of causing him any embarrassment, was the most welcome occurrence he could have wished for. He received her in the parlour with a marked restraint of manner for which she was quite unprepared. His ingratiating smile was gone, and an impenetrable solemnity of countenance appeared in its stead. I have ventured to intrude on you, sir," said Mrs. Lacan, to express the regret with which both my master and I have heard of Mrs. Bygrave's illness. Is there no improvement? No, ma'am," replied the captain, as briefly as possible. My niece is no better. I have had some experience, Mr. Bygrave, in nursing, if I could be of any use. Thank you, Mrs. Lacan. There is no necessity for our taking advantage of your kindness. This plain answer was followed by a moment's silence. The housekeeper felt some little perplexity. What had become of Mr. Bygrave's elaborate courtesy, and Mr. Bygrave's many words? Did he want to offend her? If he did, Mrs. Lacan then and there determined that he should not gain his object. May I inquire the nature of the illness? She persisted. It is not connected, I hope, with our excursion to Dunwich. I regret to say, ma'am," replied the captain, it began with that neurologic attack in the carriage. So, so, thought Mrs. Lacan. He doesn't even try to make me think the illness a real one. He throws off the mask at starting. Is it a nervous illness, sir? She added aloud. The captain answered by a solemn, affirmative inclination of the head. Then you have two nervous sufferers in the house, Mr. Bygrave. Yes, ma'am, two, my wife and my niece. That is a rather a strange coincidence of misfortunes. It is, ma'am, very strange. In spite of Mrs. Lacan's resolution not to be offended, Captain Ragh's exasperating insensibility to every stroke she aimed at him began to ruffle her. She was conscious of some little difficulty in securing her self-possession before she could say anything more. Is there no immediate hope, she resumed, of Miss Bygrave being able to leave her room? None whatever, ma'am. You are satisfied, I suppose, with the medical attendance? I have no medical attendance, said the captain, composedly. I watched the case myself. The gathering venom in Mrs. Lacan swelled up at that reply and overflowed at her lips. Your smattering of science, sir, she said with a malicious smile, includes, I presume, a smattering of medicine as well. It does, ma'am, answered the captain, without the slightest disturbance of face or manner. I know as much of one as I do of the other. The tone in which he spoke these words left Mrs. Lacan but one dignified alternative. She rose to terminate the interview. The temptation of the moment proved too much for her, and she could not resist casting the shadow of a threat over Captain Ragh, a parting. I defer, thanking you, sir, for the manner in which you have received me, she said, until I can pay my debt of obligation to some purpose. In the meantime, I am glad to infer, from the absence of a medical attendant in the house, that Miss Bygrave's illness is much less serious than I had supposed it to be when I came here. I never contradicts a lady, ma'am, rejoined the incorrigible captain. If it is your pleasure, when we next meet, to think my knees quite well, I shall bow resignedly to the expression of your opinion. With these words he followed the housekeeper into the passage and politely opened the door for her. I mark the trick, ma'am, he said to himself as he closed it again. The trump card in your hand is a sight of my niece, and I'll take care you don't play it. He returned to the parlor, and composedly awaited the next event, which was likely to happen. A visit from Mrs. LeCount's master. In less than an hour, results justified Captain Ragh's anticipations, and Novan Stone walked in. My dear sir, cried the captain, cordially seizing his visitor's reluctant hand. I know what you have 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. Van Stone, 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 Novan Stone opened his eyes. LeCount, he exclaimed, in the utmost bewilderment. The same, sir, replied Captain Ragh. 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 Novan Stone. 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. Novan Stone 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 circumstances yourself? As a man of honour 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. Van Stone, 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. Van Stone, remains the same. Miss Bygrave simply declines to be an apple of discord, if you will permit the classical illusion cast into your household. I think she is right so far, and I frankly confess that I have exaggerated a nervous indisposition from which she is rarely suffering, into a serious illness, purely and entirely to prevent these two ladies for the present from meeting every day on the parade, and from carrying unpleasant impressions of each other into your domestic establishment and mine. I allow nothing unpleasant in my establishment," remarks an old Van Stone. I am master. You must have noticed that already, Mr. Bygrave. I am master. No doubt of it, my dear sir. But to live morning, noon and night in the perpetual exercise of your authority is more like the life of a governor of a prison than the life of a master of a household. The wear and tear. Consider the wear and tear. It strikes you in that light, does it? said Noel Van Stone, soothed by Captain Rags' ready recognition of his authority. I don't know that you're not right, but I must take some steps directly. I won't be made ridiculous. I'll send the counter-way altogether, sooner than be made ridiculous. His colour rose, and he folded his little arms fiercely. Captain Rags' artfully irritating explanation had awakened the dormant suspicion of his housekeeper's influence over him, which habitually lay hidden in his mind, and which Mrs. LeCount was now not present to charm back to repose as usual. What must Mr. Bygrave think of me? he exclaimed with a sudden outburst of vexation. I'll send LeCount away. Damn, I'll send LeCount away on the spot. No, no, no, said the captain, whose interest it was to avoid driving Mrs. LeCount to any desperate extremities. Why take strong measures, when mild measures will do? Mrs. LeCount is an old servant. Mrs. LeCount is attached and useful. She has this little drawback of jealousy, jealousy of her domestic position with her bachelor master. She sees you paying courteous attention to a handsome young lady. She sees that young lady properly sensible of your politeness, and poor soul she loses her temper. What is the obvious remedy? Humour her. Make a manly concession to the weaker sex. If Mrs. LeCount is with you, the next time we meet on the parade, walk the other way. If Mrs. LeCount is not with you, give us the pleasure of your company by all means. In short, my dear sir, try the Swariter in modo, as we classical men say, before you commit yourself to the Forte Terre in Ray. There was one excellent reason why Nell Van Stone should take Captain Ragh's conciliatory advice. An open rupture with Mrs. LeCount, even if he could have summoned the courage to face it, would imply the recognition of her claims to a provision in acknowledgment of the services she had rendered to his father and to himself. His sordid nature quailed within him at the bare prospect of expressing the emotion of gratitude in a pecuniary form, and after first consulting appearances by a show of hesitation he consented to adopt the Captain's suggestion and to humour Mrs. LeCount. But I must be considered in this matter, preceded Nell Van Stone. My concession to LeCount's weakness must not be misunderstood. Miss Bygrave must not be allowed to suppose I am afraid of my housekeeper. The Captain declared that no such idea ever had entered, or ever could enter Miss Bygrave's mind. Nell Van Stone returned to the subject nevertheless, again and again, with his customary pertinacity. Would it be indiscreet if he asked Leav to set himself right personally with Miss Bygrave? Was there any hope that he might have the happiness of seeing her on that day, or if not on the next day, or if not on the day after? Captain Ragh answered cautiously. He felt the importance of not rousing Nell Van Stone's distrust by too great an alacrity in complying with his wishes. An interview today, my dear sir, is out of the question, he said. She is not well enough. She wants repose. Tomorrow I propose taking her out before the heat of the day begins. Not merely to avoid embarrassment, after what has happened with Mrs LeCount, but because the morning air and the morning quiet are essential in these nervous cases. We are early people here, we shall start at seven o'clock. If you are early too, and if you would like to join us, I need hardly say that we can feel no objection to your company on our morning walk. The hour I am aware is an unusual one, but later in the day my niece may be resting on the sofa, and may not be able to see visitors. Having made this proposal purely for the purpose of enabling Nell Van Stone to escape to North Shingles at an hour in the morning when his housekeeper would be probably in bed, Captain Ragh left him to take the hint, if he could, as indirectly as it had been given. He proved sharp enough, the case being one in which his own interests were concerned, to close with the proposal on the spot. Politely declaring that he was always an early man when the morning presented any special attraction to him, he accepted the appointment for seven o'clock and rose soon afterward to take his leave. One word at parting, said Captain Ragh, this conversation is entirely between ourselves. Mrs LeCount must know nothing of the impression she has produced on my niece. I have only mentioned it to you, to account for my apparently cheerless conduct, and to satisfy your own mind. In confidence, Mr Van Stone, strictly in confidence, good morning. With these parting words, the Captain bowed his visitor out. Unless some unexpected disaster occurred, he now saw his way safely to the end of the enterprise. He had gained two important steps in advance that morning. He had sown the seeds of variance between the housekeeper and her master, and he had given Null Van Stone a common interest with Magdalene and himself in keeping a secret from Mrs LeCount. We have caught our man, thought Captain Ragh, cheerfully rubbing his hands. We have caught our man at last. On leaving North Shingles, Null Van Stone walked straight home, fully restored to his place in his own estimation, and sternly determined to carry matters with a high hand if he found himself in collision with Mrs LeCount. The housekeeper received her master at the door with her modest manner and her gentlest smile. She addressed him with downcast eyes. She opposed to his contemplated assertion of independence a barrier of impenetrable respect. Finally I ventured to ask, sir, she began, if your visit to North Shingles has led you to form the same conclusions as mine on the subject of Miss Bygrave's illness? Certainly not, LeCount. I consider your conclusion to have been both hasty and prejudiced. I am sorry to hear it, sir. I felt hurt by Mr Bygrave's rude reception of me, but I was not aware that my judgment was prejudiced by it. Yes, he received you, sir, with a warmer welcome? He received me like a gentleman. That is all I think it necessary to say, LeCount. He received me like a gentleman. This answer satisfied Mrs LeCount on the one doubtful point that had perplexed her. Whatever Mr Bygrave's sudden coolness toward herself might mean, his polite reception of her master implied that the risk of detection had not daunted him, and that the plot was still in full progress. The housekeeper's eyes brightened. She had expressly calculated on this result. After a moment's thinking she addressed her master with another question. You will probably visit Mr Bygrave again, sir? Of course I shall visit him, if I please. And perhaps see Miss Bygrave, if she gets better? Why not? You should be glad to know why not. Is it necessary to ask your Le First LeCount? By no means, sir. As you have often said, and as I have often agreed with you, you are master. It may surprise you to hear it, Mr Knowle, but I have a private reason for wishing that you should see Miss Bygrave again. Mr Knowle started a little, and looked at his housekeeper with some curiosity. I have a strange fancy of my own, sir, about that young lady. Proceeded Mrs LeCount. If you will excuse my fancy, and indulge it, you will do me a favour for which I shall be very grateful. A fancy, repeated her master, in growing surprise, what fancy! Only this, sir, said Mrs LeCount, she took from one of the neat little pockets of her apron a morsel of note paper. She folded it into the smallest possible compass, and respectfully placed it in Nell Vanstone's hands. If you are willing to oblige an old and faithful servant, Mr Knowle, she said, in a very quiet and very impressive manner, you will kindly put that morsel of paper into your waistcoat pocket. You will open and read it for the first time, when you are next in Miss Bygrave's company. And you will say nothing of what has now passed between us to any living creature. From this time to that. I promise to explain my strange request, sir, when you have done what I ask, and when your next interview with Miss Bygrave has come to an end. She curts it with her best grace, and quietly left the room. Nell Vanstone looked from the folded paper to the door, and from the door back to the folded paper in unutterable astonishment. A mystery in his own house. Under his own nose, what did it mean? It meant that Mrs LeCount had not wasted her time that morning. While the captain was casting the net over his visitor at North Schingles, the housekeeper was steadily mining the ground under his feet. The folded paper contained nothing less than a carefully written extract from the personal description of Magdalene in Miss God's letter. With a daring ingenuity which even Captain Rag might have envied, Mrs LeCount had found her instrument for exposing the conspiracy in the unsuspecting person of the victim himself. SCEN4 CHAPTER VII When Magdalene and Mrs Rag came back from their walk in the dark, the captain stopped Magdalene on her way upstairs to inform her of the proceedings of the day. He added the expression of his opinion that the time had come for bringing Nell Vanstone with the least possible delay to the point of making a proposal. She merely answered that she understood him, and that she would do what was required of her. Captain Rag requested her, in that case, to oblige him by joining a walking excursion in Mr Nell Vanstone's company at seven o'clock the next morning. I will be ready, she replied. Is there anything more? There was nothing more. Magdalene bade him good night and returned to her own room. She had shown the same disinclination to remain any longer than was necessary in the captain's company throughout the three days of her seclusion in the house. During all that time, instead of appearing to weary of Mrs Rag's society, she had patiently, almost eagerly, associated herself with her companion's one absorbing pursuit. She who had often chafed and fretted in past days under the monotony of her life in the freedom of Coom Raven, now accepted, without a murmur, the monotony of her life and Mrs Rag's work-table. She who had hated the sight of her needle and thread in old times, who had never yet worn an article of dress of her own making, now toiled as anxiously over the making of Mrs Rag's gown, and bore as patiently with Mrs Rag's blunders as if the sole object of her existence had been the successful completion of that one dress. Anything was welcome to her, the trivial difficulties of fitting her gown, the small, ceaseless chatter of the poor, half-witted creature who was so proud of her assistance, and so happy in her company. Anything was welcome that shut her out from the coming future, from the destiny to which she stood self-condemned. That sorely wounded nature was soothed by such a trifle now as the grasp of her companion's rough and friendly hand. That desolate heart was cheered when night parted them by Mrs Rag's kiss. The captain's isolated position in the house produced no depressing effect on the captain's easy and equal spirits. Instead of resenting Magdalene's systematic avoidance of his society, he looked to results and highly approved of it. The more she neglected him for his wife, the more directly useful she became in the character of Mrs Rag's self-appointed guardian. He had more than once seriously contemplated revoking the concession which had been extorted from him, and removing his wife at his own sole responsibility out of harm's way. And he had only abandoned the idea on discovering that Magdalene's resolution to keep Mrs Rag in her own company was really serious. While the two were together, his main anxiety was set at rest. They kept their door locked by his own desire while he was out of the house, and whatever Mrs Rag might do, Magdalene was to be trusted not to open it until he came back. That night, Captain Rag enjoyed his cigar with a mind at ease, and sipped his brandy and water in happy ignorance of the pitfall which Mrs La Count had prepared for him in the morning. Punctually at seven o'clock, Nell Vanstone made his appearance. The moment he entered the room, Captain Rag detected a change in his visitor's look and manner. Something wrong, thought the Captain. We have not done with Mrs La Count yet. How is Miss Bygrave this morning? asked Nell Vanstone. Well enough, I hope, for our early walk. His half-closed eyes, weak and watery with the morning light, and the morning air, looked about the room furtively, and he shifted his place in a restless manner from one chair to another as he made those polite inquiries. My niece is better. She is dressing for the walk, replied the Captain, steadily observing his restless little friend while he spoke. Mr Vanstone, he added, on a sudden, I am a plain Englishman. Excuse my blunt way of speaking my mind. You don't meet me this morning as cordially as you met me yesterday. There is something unsettled in your face. I distrust that housekeeper of yours, sir. Has she been presuming on your forbearance? Has she been trying to poison your mind against me or my niece? If Nell Vanstone had obeyed Mrs La Count's injunctions, and had kept her little morsel of note-paper folded in his pocket until the time came to use it, Captain Rag's designedly blunt appeal might not have found him unprepared with an answer. The curiosity had got the better of him. He had opened the note at night and again in the morning. It had seriously perplexed and startled him, and it had left his mind far too disturbed to allow him the possession of his ordinary resources. He hesitated, and his answer, when he succeeded in making it, began with a prevarication. Captain Rag stopped him before he had got beyond his first sentence. "'Pardon me, sir,' said the Captain, in his loftiest manner. "'If you have secrets to keep, you have only to say so. And I have done.' I intrude on no man's secrets. "'At the same time, Mr Vanstone, you must allow me to record to your memory that I met you yesterday without any reserves on my side. I admitted you to my frankest and fullest confidence, sir, and, highly as I prized, the advantages of your society, I can't consent to cultivate your friendship on any other than equal terms.' He threw open his respectable frock coat, and surveyed his visitor with a manly and virtuous severity. "'I mean no offence,' cried Noel Vanstone, piteously. "'Why do you interrupt me, Mr Bygrave? Why don't you let me explain?' "'I mean no offence.' "'No offence is taken, sir,' said the Captain. "'You have a perfect right to the exercise of your own discretion. I am not offended. I only claim for myself the same privilege which I accord to you.' He raised with great dignity and rang the bell. "'Tell, Miss Bygrave,' he said to the servant, that our walk this morning is put off until another opportunity, and that I won't trouble her to come downstairs.' This strong proceeding had the desired effect. Noel Vanstone vehemently pleaded for a moment's private conversation before the message was delivered. Captain Ragh's severity partially relaxed. He sent the servant downstairs again, and, resuming his chair, waited confidently for results. In calculating the facilities for practising on his visitor's weakness, he had one great superiority over Mrs LeCount. His judgment was not warped by latent female jealousies, and he avoided the error into which the housekeeper had fallen, self-deluded, the error of underrating the impression on Noel Vanstone that Magdalene had produced. One of the forces in this world which no middle-aged woman is capable of estimating at its full value when it acts against her is the force of beauty in a woman younger than herself. "'You are so hasty, Mr Bygrave. You won't give me time. You won't wait and hear what I have to say,' cried Noel Vanstone piteously, when the servant closed the parlor door. "'My family failing, sir. The blood of the Bygraves. Accept my excuses. We are alone, as you wished. Pray proceed!' Placed between the alternatives of losing Magdalene's society, or betraying Mrs LeCount, unenlightened by any suspicion of the housekeeper's ultimate object, cowed by the immovable scrutiny of Captain Ragh's inquiring eye, Noel Vanstone was not long in making his choice. He confusedly described his singular interview of the previous evening with Mrs LeCount, and, taking the folded paper from his pocket, placed it in the captain's hand. A suspicion of the truth dawned on Captain Ragh's mind the moment he saw the mysterious note. He withdrew to the window before he opened it. The first lines that attracted his attention were these. "'Abledge me, Mr Noel, by comparing the young lady, who is now in your company, with the personal description which follows these lines, and which has been communicated to me by a friend. You shall know the name of the person described, which I have left to blank, as soon as the evidence of your own eyes has forced you to believe what you would refuse to credit on the unsupported testimony of Virginie LeCount.' That was enough for the captain. Before he had read a word of the description itself, he knew what Mrs LeCount had done, and felt, with a profound sense of humiliation, that his female enemy had taken him by surprise. There was no time to think. The whole enterprise was threatened with irrevocable overthrow. The one resource in Captain Ragh's present situation was to act instantly on the first impulse of his own audacity. Line by line he read on, and still the ready inventiveness which had never deserted him yet failed to answer the call made on its now. He came to the closing sentence, to the last words which mentioned the two little moles on Magdalene's neck. At that crowning point of the description an idea crossed his mind. His party-coloured eyes twinkled. His curly lips twisted up at the corners. Ragh was himself again. He wheeled round suddenly from the window, and looked Nell Vanstone straight in the face, with a grimly quiet suggestiveness of something serious to come. Pray, sir, do you happen to know anything of Mrs. LeCount's family? he inquired. A respectable family, said Nell Vanstone, that's all I know. Why do you ask? I'm not usually a betting man, pursued Captain Ragh, but on this occasion I will lay you any wager you like, there is madness in your housekeeper's family. Madness, repeated Nell Vanstone amazedly. Madness reiterated the Captain, sternly tapping the note with his forefinger. I see the cunning of insanity, the suspicion of insanity, the feline treachery of insanity in every line of this deplorable document. There is a far more alarming reason, sir, than I had supposed for Mrs. LeCount's behaviour to my niece. It is clear to me that Miss Bygrave resembles some other lady who has seriously offended your housekeeper, who has been formally connected perhaps with an outbreak of insanity in your housekeeper, and who is now evidently confused with my niece in your housekeeper's wandering mind. That is my conviction, Mr. Vanstone. I may be right or I may be wrong. All I can say is this, neither you nor any man can assign a sane motive for the production of that incomprehensible document, and for the use which you are requested to make of it. I don't think LeCount's mad, said Nell Vanstone, with a very blank look and a very discomposed manner. It couldn't have escaped me with my habits of observation. It couldn't possibly have escaped me if LeCount had been mad. Very good, my dear sir. In my opinion, she is the subject of an insane delusion. In your opinion, she is in possession of her senses, and has some mysterious motive which neither you nor I can fathom. Either way, there can be no harm in putting Mrs. LeCount's description to the test, not only as a matter of curiosity, but for our own private satisfaction on both sides. It is, of course, impossible to tell my niece that she is to be made the subject of such a preposterous experiment as that note of your suggests. But you can use your own eyes, Mr. Vanstone. You can keep your own counsel, and, mad or not, you can at least tell your housekeeper on the testimony of your own senses that she is wrong. Let me look at the description again. The greater part of it is not worth two straws for any purpose of identification. Hundreds of young ladies have tall figures, fair complexions, light brown hair, and light grey eyes. You will say, on the other hand, hundreds of young ladies have not got two little moles close together on the left side of the neck. Quite true, the moles supply us with what we scientific men call a crucial test. When my niece comes downstairs, sir, you have my full permission to take the liberty of looking at her neck. Noel Vanstone expressed his high approval of the crucial test by smirking and simpering for the first time that morning. Of looking at her neck, repeated the captain, returning the note to his visitor, and then making for the door. I will go upstairs myself, Mr. Vanstone, he continued, and inspect Miss Bygrave's walking dress. If she has innocently placed any obstacles in your way, if her hair is a little too low or her frill is a little too high, I will exert my authority on the first harmless pretext I can think of to have these obstacles removed. All I ask is that you will choose your opportunity discreetly, and that you will not allow my niece to suppose that her neck is the object of a gentleman's inspection. The moment he was out of the parlor, Captain Rager ascended the stairs at the top of his speed and knocked at Magdalen's door. She opened it to him in her walking dress. Abedients of the signal agreed on between them, which summoned her downstairs. What have you done with your paints and powders? asked the captain, without wasting a word in preliminary explanations. They were not in the box of costumes, which I sold for you at Birmingham. Where are they? I've got them here, replied Magdalen. What can you possibly mean by wanting them now? Bring them instantly into my dressing room, the whole collection, brushes, pallets, and everything. Don't waste time in asking questions. I'll tell you what has happened as we go on. Every moment is precious to us. Follow me instantly. His face plainly showed that there was a serious reason for his strange proposal. Magdalen secured her collection of cosmetics and followed him into the dressing room. He locked the door, placed her on a chair close to the light, and then told her what had happened. We are on the brink of detection, proceeded the captain, carefully mixing his colors with liquid glue, and with a strong dryer added from a bottle in his own possession. There is only one chance for us. Lift up your hair from the left side of your neck. I have told Mr. Nelvanstone to take a private opportunity of looking at you, and I am going to give the lie direct to that she-devil account by painting out your moles. They can't be painted out, said Magdalen. No color will stop on them. My color will, remarked Captain Rag. I have tried a variety of professions in my time, the profession of painting among the rest. Did you ever hear of such a thing as a black eye? I lived some months once in the neighborhood of Drury Lane entirely on black eyes. My flesh color stood on bruises of all sorts, shades, and sizes, and it will stand, I promise you, on your moles. With this assurance the captain dipped his brush into a little lump of opaque color, which he had mixed in the saucer, and which he had graduated as nearly as the materials would permit to the color of Magdalen's skin. After first passing a cambrick handkerchief with some white powder on it, over the part of her neck on which he'd designed to operate, he placed two layers of color on the moles with the tip of the brush. The process was performed in a few moments, and the moles, as if by magic, disappeared from view. Nothing but the closest inspection could have discovered the artifice by which they had been concealed. At the distance of two or three feet only, it was perfectly invisible. Wait here five minutes, said Captain Rag, to let the paint dry, and then join us in the parlour. Mrs. LeCount herself would be puzzled if she looked at you now. Stop, said Magdalen. There is one thing you have not told me yet. How did Mrs. LeCount get the description which you read downstairs? Whatever else she has seen as me, she has not seen the mark on my neck. It is too far back, and too high up. My hair hides it. Who knows of the mark? asked Captain Rag. She turned deadly pale under the anguish of a sudden recollection of Frank. My sister knows it, she said faintly. Mrs. LeCount may have written to your sister, suggested the Captain. Do you think my sister would tell a stranger what no stranger has a right to know? Never, never. Is there nobody else who could tell Mrs. LeCount? The mark was mentioned in the handbills at York. Who put it there? Not Nora. Perhaps Mr. Pendriel. Perhaps Ms. Garth. Then Mrs. LeCount has written to Mr. Pendriel or Ms. Garth. More likely to Ms. Garth. The governess would be easier to deal with than the lawyer. What can she have said to Ms. Garth? Captain Rag considered a little. I can't say what Mrs. LeCount may have written, he said, but I can tell you what I should have written in Mrs. LeCount's place. I should have frightened Ms. Garth by false reports about you, to begin with, and then I should have asked for personal particulars to help a benevolent stranger in restoring you to your friends. The angry glitter flashed up instantly in Magdalene's eyes. What you would have done is what Mrs. LeCount has done, she said indignantly. Neither lawyer nor governess shall dispute my right to my own will and my own way. If Ms. Garth thinks she can control my actions by corresponding with Mrs. LeCount, I will show Ms. Garth that she is mistaken. It is high time, Captain Rag, to have done with these wretched risks of discovery. We will take the short way to the end. We have in view sooner than Mrs. LeCount or Ms. Garth think for. How long can you give me to ring an offer of marriage out of that creature downstairs? I dare not give you long, replied Captain Rag. Now your friends know where you are. They may come down on us at a day's notice. Could you manage it in a week? I'll manage it in half the time, she said with a hard, defiant laugh. Leave us together this morning as you left us at Dunnich and take Mrs. Rag with you as an excuse for parting company. Is the paint dry yet? Go downstairs and tell him I am coming directly. So for the second time Ms. Garth's well-meant efforts defeated their own end. So the fatal force of circumstance turned the hand that would vane have held Magdalene back into the hand that drove her on. The Captain returned to his visitor in the parlour after first stopping on his way to issue his orders for the walking excursion to Mrs. Rag. I am shocked to have kept you waiting, he said, sitting down again confidentially by Nelvan's own side. My only excuse is that my niece had accidentally dressed her hair so as to defeat our object. I have been persuading her to alter it and young ladies are apt to be a little obstinate on questions relating to their toilet. Give her a chair on that side of you when she comes in and take your look at her neck comfortably before we start for our walk. Magdalene entered the room as he said those words and after the first greetings were exchanged took the chair presented to her with the most unsuspicious readiness. Nelvan Stone applied the crucial test on the spot with the highest appreciation of the fair material which was the subject of experiment. Not the vestige of a mole was visible on any part of the smooth white surface of Miss Bygrave's neck. It mutely answered the blinking inquiry of Nelvan Stone's half-closed eyes by the flattest practical contradiction of Mrs. LeCount. That one central incident in the events of the morning was of all the incidents that had hitherto occurred the most important in its results. That one discovery shook the housekeeper's hold on her master as nothing had shaken it yet. In a few minutes Mrs. Ragh made her appearance and excited as much surprise in Nelvan Stone's mind as he was capable of feeling while absorbed in the enjoyment of Magdalene's society. The walking party left the house at once directing their steps northward so as not to pass the windows of Seaview Cottage. To Mrs. Ragh's unutterable astonishment her husband, for the first time in the course of their married life politely offered her his arm and led her on in advance of the young people as if the privilege of walking alone with her was some special attraction to him. Step out, whispered the captain fiercely. Leave your niece and Mr. Van Stone alone. If I catch you looking back at them I'll put the oriental cashmere robe on the top of the kitchen fire. Turn your toes out and keep step. I can't find you. Keep step. Mrs. Ragh kept step to the best of her limited ability. Her sturdy knees trembled under her. She firmly believed the captain was intoxicated. The walk lasted for rather more than an hour. Before nine o'clock they were all back again at North Shingles. The ladies went at once into the house. No van Stone remained with Captain Ragh in the garden. Well, said the captain, what do you think now of Mrs. LeCount? Damn LeCount! replied No van Stone in great agitation. I'm half inclined to agree with you. I'm half inclined to think my infernal housekeeper is mad. He spoke fretfully and unwillingly as if the merest allusion to Mrs. LeCount was distasteful to him. His colour came and went. His manner was absent and undecided. He fidgeted restlessly about the garden walk. It would have been plain to a far less acute observation than Captain Ragh's that Magdalene had met his advances by an unexpected grace and readiness of encouragement which had entirely overthrown his self-control. I never enjoyed a walk so much in my life, he exclaimed, with a sudden outburst of enthusiasm. I hope Miss Bygrey feels all the better for it. Do you go out at the same time tomorrow morning? May I join you again? By all means, Mr. Van Stone, said the captain cordially. Excuse me for returning to the subject. But what do you propose saying to Mrs. LeCount? I don't know. LeCount is a perfect nuisance. What would you do, Mr. Bygrave, if you were in my place? Allow me to ask a question, my dear sir, before I tell you. What is your breakfast hour? Half past nine. Is Mrs. LeCount an early riser? No. LeCount is lazy in the morning. I hate lazy women. If you were in my place, what should you say to her? I should say nothing, replied Captain Ragh. I should return at once by the back way. I should let Mrs. LeCount see me in the front garden as if I was taking a turn before breakfast, and I should leave her to suppose that I was only just out of my room. If she asks you whether you mean to come here today, say no. Secure a quiet life until circumstances force you to give her an answer. Then tell the plain truth. Say that Mr. Bygrave's niece and Mrs. LeCount's description are at variance with each other in the most important particular, and beg that the subject may not be mentioned again. There is my advice. What do you think of it? If Noel Vanstone could have looked into his counselor's mind, he might have thought the captain's advice excellently adapted to serve the captain's interests. As long as Mrs. LeCount could be kept in ignorance of her master's visits to North Shingles, so long she would wait until the opportunity came for trying her experiment, and so long she might be trusted not to endanger the conspiracy by any further proceedings. Necessarily incapable of viewing captain's rags advice under this aspect, Noel Vanstone simply looked at it as offering him a temporary means of escape from an explanation with his housekeeper. He eagerly declared that the course of action suggested to him should be followed to the letter and return to sea view without further delay. On this occasion, captain rags' anticipations were in no respect falsified by Mrs. LeCount's conduct. She had no suspicion of her master's visit to North Shingles. She had made up her mind, if necessary, to wait patiently for his interview with Miss Bygrave until the end of the week, and she did not embarrass him by any unexpected questions when he announced his intention of holding no personal communication with the Bygraves on that day. All she said was, Don't you feel well enough, Mr. Noel? Or don't you feel inclined? He answered shortly, I don't feel well enough. And there the conversation ended. The next day the proceedings of the previous morning were exactly repeated. This time, Noel Vanstone went home rapturously with a keepsake in his breast pocket. He had taken tender possession of one of Miss Bygrave's gloves. At intervals during the day, whenever he was alone, he took out the glove and kissed it with a devotion which was almost passionate in its fervour. The miserable little creature luxuriated in his moments of stolen happiness with a speechless and stealthy delight which was a new sensation to him. The few young girls whom he had met with in his father's narrow circle at Zurich had felt a mischievous pleasure in treating him like a quaint little plaything. The strongest impression he could make on their hearts was an impression in which their lapdogs might have rivaled him. The deepest interest he could create in them was the interest they might have felt in a new trinket or a new dress. The only women who had hitherto invited his admiration and taken his compliments seriously had been women whose charms were on the wane and whose chances of marriage were fast failing them. For the first time in his life he had now passed hours of happiness in the society of a beautiful girl who had left him to think of her afterward without a single humiliating remembrance to lower him in his own esteem. Anxiously as he tried to hide it the change produced in his look and manner by the new feeling awakened in him was not a change which could be concealed from Mrs. LeCount. On the second day she pointedly asked him whether he had not made an arrangement to call on the by-graves. He denied it as before. Perhaps you are going tomorrow, Mr. Knowle? persisted the housekeeper. He was at the end of his resources. He was impatient to be rid of her inquiries. He trusted to his friend at North Jingles to help him and this time he answered yes. If you see the young lady, proceeded Mrs. LeCount, don't forget that note of mine, sir, which you have in your waistcoat pocket. No more was said on either side, but by that night's post the housekeeper wrote to Miss Garth. The letter merely acknowledged with thanks the receipt of Miss Garth's communication and informed her that in a few days Mrs. LeCount hoped to be in a position to write again and summon Mr. Pendrell to Old Bra. Late in the evening when the parlor at North Jingles began to get dark and when the captain rang the bell for candles as usual he was surprised by hearing Magdalene's voice in the passage telling the servant to take the lights downstairs again. She knocked at the door immediately afterward and glided into the obscurity of the room like a ghost. I have a question to ask you about your plans for tomorrow, she said. My eyes are very weak this evening and I hope you will not object to dispense with the candles for a few minutes. She spoke in low, stifled tones and felt her way noiselessly to a chair far removed from the captain in the darkest part of the room. Sitting near the window he could just discern the dim outline of her dress. He could just hear the faint accents of her voice. For the last two days he had seen nothing of her except during their morning walk. On that afternoon he had found his wife crying in the little back room downstairs. She could only tell him that Magdalene had frightened her that Magdalene was going the way again which she had gone when the letter came from China in the terrible past time at Voxel Walk. I was sorry to hear that you were ill today from Mrs. Rag, said the captain unconsciously dropping his voice almost to a whisper as he spoke. It doesn't matter, she answered quietly, out of the darkness. I am strong enough to suffer and live. Other girls in my place would have been happier. They would have suffered and died. It doesn't matter, it will all be the same a hundred years hence. Is he coming again tomorrow morning at seven o'clock? He is coming, if you feel no objection to it. I have no objection to make. I have done with objecting. But I should like to have the time altered. I don't look my best in the early morning. I have bad nights and I rise haggard and worn. Write him a note this evening and tell him to come at twelve o'clock. Twelve is rather late under the circumstances for you to be seen out walking. I have no intention of walking. Let him be shown into the parlour. Her voice died away in silence before she ended the sentence. Yes, said Captain Rag, and leave me alone in the parlour to receive him. I understand, said the Captain, an admirable ideal. I'll be out of the way in the dining-room while he is here, and you can come and tell me about it when he has gone. There was another moment of silence. Is there no way but telling you? she asked suddenly. I can control myself while he is with me, but I can't answer for what I may say or do afterward. Is there no other way? Plenty of ways, said the Captain. Here is the first that occurs to me. Leave the blind down over the window of your room upstairs before he comes. I will go out on the beach and wait there, within sight of the house. When I see him come out again, I will look at the window. If he has said nothing, leave the blind down. If he has made you an offer, draw the blind up. The signal is simplicity itself. We can't misunderstand each other. Look your best tomorrow, make sure of him, my dear girl, make sure of him if you possibly can. He had spoken loud enough to feel certain that she had heard him, but no answering word came from her. The dead silence was only disturbed by the rustling of her dress, which told him she had risen from her chair. Her shadowy presence crossed the room again. The door shut softly, she was gone. He rang the bell hurriedly for the lights. The servant found him standing close at the window, looking less self-possessed than usual. He told her he felt a little poorly, and sent her to the cupboard for the brandy. At a few minutes before twelve the next day, Captain Ragh withdrew to his post of observation, concealing himself behind a fishing-boat drawn up on the beach. Punctually as the hour struck, he saw Nell Vanstone approach North Shingles and open the garden gate. When the house door had closed on the visitor, Captain Ragh settled himself comfortably against the side of the boat and lit his cigar. He smoked for half an hour, for ten minutes over the half hour by his watch. He finished the cigar down to the last morsel of it that he could hold in his lips. Just as he had thrown away the end, the door opened again and Nell Vanstone came out. The captain looked up instantly at Magdalen's window. In the absorbing excitement of the moment, he counted the seconds. She might get from the parlor to her own room in less than a minute. He counted to thirty, and nothing happened. He counted to fifty, and nothing happened. He gave up counting, and left the boat impatiently to return to the house. As he took his first step forward, he saw the signal. The blind was drawn up. Cautiously ascending the eminence of the beach, Captain Ragh looked towards Seaview Cottage before he showed himself on the parade. Nell Vanstone had reached home again. He was just entering his own door. If all your money was offered to me to stand in your shoes, said the captain looking after him, Rich as you are, I wouldn't take it. End of Chapter 7 Fourth Scene Scene 4 Chapter 8 of No Name This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Philip Griffiths No Name by Wilkie Collins Scene 4 Chapter 8 On returning to the house, Captain Ragh received a significant message from the servant. Mr. Nell Vanstone would call again at two o'clock that afternoon when he hoped to have the pleasure of finding Mr. Bygrave at home. The captain's first inquiry, after hearing this message, referred to Magdalene. Where was Mrs. Bygrave? In her own room. Where was Mrs. Bygrave? In the back parlor. Captain Ragh turned his steps at once in the latter direction and found his wife for the second time in tears. She had been sent out of Magdalene's room for the whole day and she was at her wit's end to know what she had done to deserve it. Shortening her lamentations without ceremony, her husband sent her upstairs on the spot with instructions to knock at the door and to inquire whether Magdalene could give five minutes' attention to a question of importance which must be settled before two o'clock. The answer returned was in the negative. Magdalene requested that the subject on which she was asked to decide might be mentioned to her in writing. She engaged to reply in the same way on the understanding that Mrs. Ragh and not the servant should be employed to deliver the note and to take back the answer. Captain Ragh forthwith opened his paper case and wrote these lines. Except my warmest congratulations on the result of your interview with Mr. Envy. He is coming again at two o'clock. There is no doubt to make his proposals in due form. The question to decide is whether I shall press him or not on the subject of settlements. The considerations for your own mind are two in number. First, whether the said pressure without at all underrating your influence over him may not squeeze for a long time before it squeezes money out of Mr. Envy. Secondly, whether we are altogether justified considering our present position toward a certain sharp practitioner in petticoats in running the risk of delay. Consider these points and let me have your decision as soon as convenient. The answer returned to this note was written in crooked, blotted characters strangely unlike Magdalene's usually firm and clear handwriting. It only contained these words. Give yourself no trouble about settlements. Leave the use to which he is to put his money for the future in my hands. Did you see her? asked the captain when his wife had delivered the answer. I tried, said Mrs. Ragh, with a fresh burst of tears but she only opened the door far enough to put out her hand. I took and gave it a little squeeze and oh poor soul, it felt so cold in mine. When Mrs. LeCount's master made his appearance at two o'clock he stood alarmingly in need of an anodyne application from Mrs. LeCount's green fan. The agitation of making his avowal to Magdalene the terror of finding himself discovered by the housekeeper the tormenting suspicion of the hard pecuniary conditions which Magdalene'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 Ragh seized the brandy bottle in genuine alarm and forced his visitor to drink a wine-glass full 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 Novanstone contrived to state the serious object of his visit intolerably 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 Ragh 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 illusion 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. Novanstone 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 trouble yourself to explain said Captain Rag coming to the rescue. This is the common story Mr. Vanstone. Here is a woman who has grown old in your service and in your father's service before you. A woman who has contrived in all sorts of small underhand ways to presume systematically on her position for years and years past. A woman in short whom your inconsiderate but perfectly natural kindness has allowed to claim a right of property in you. Property cried Noel Vanstone mistaking the captain and letting the truth escape him through sheer inability to conceal his fears any longer. I don't know what amount of property she won't claim. She'll make me pay for my father as well as for myself. Thousands Mr. Bygrave thousands of pounds sterling out of my pocket. He clasped his hands in despair at the picture of pecuniary compulsion which his fancy had conjured up his own golden lifeblood spouting from him in great jets of prodigality under the lancet of Mrs. LeCount. Gently Mr. Vanstone gently the woman knows nothing so far and the money is not gone yet. No, no, the money is not gone as you say. I'm only nervous about it. I can't help being nervous. You were saying something just now. You are going to give me advice. I value your advice. You don't know how highly I value your advice. He said those words with a conciliatory smile which was more than helpless. It was absolutely servile in its dependence on his judicious friend. I was only assuring you, my dear sir, that I understood your position, said the captain. I see your difficulty as plainly as you can see it yourself. Tell a woman like Mrs. LeCount that she must come off her domestic throne to make way for a young and beautiful successor armed with the authority of a wife and an unpleasant scene must be the inevitable result. An unpleasant scene, Mr. Vanstone, if your opinion of your housekeeper's sanity is well founded. Something far more serious, if my opinion, that her intellect is unsettled, happens to turn out the right one. I don't say it isn't my opinion too, rejoined Nell Vanstone, especially after what has happened today. Captain Rag immediately begged to know what the event alluded to might be. Nell Vanstone thereupon explained, with an infinite number of parentheses, all referring to himself, that Mrs. LeCount had put the dreaded question relating to the little note in her master's pocket barely an hour since. He had answered her inquiry, as Mr. Bygrave had advised him, on hearing that the accuracy of the personal description had been fairly put to the test and had failed in the one important particular of the moles on the neck. Mrs. LeCount had considered a little and had then asked him whether he had shown her note to Mr. Bygrave before the experiment was tried. He had answered in the negative, as the only safe form of reply that he could think of on the spur of the moment. And the housekeeper had then addressed him in these strange and startling words. You are keeping the truth from me, Mr. Nell. You are trusting strangers and doubting your old servant and your old friend. Every time you go to Mr. Bygrave's house, every time you see Mrs. Bygrave, you are drawing nearer and nearer to your destruction. They have got the bandage over your eyes in spite of me. But I tell them and tell you before many days are over I will take it off. To this extraordinary outbreak accompanied as it was by an expression in Mrs. LeCount's face which he had never seen there before, Nell Vanstone had made no reply. Mr. Bygrave's conviction that there was a lurking taint of insanity in the housekeeper's blood had recurred to his memory and he had left the room at the first opportunity. Captain Rag listened with the closest attention to the narrative thus presented to him. But one conclusion could be drawn from it. It was a plain warning to him to hasten the end. I am not surprised, he said gravely, to hear that you are inclining more favourably to my opinion. After what you have just told me, Mr. Vanstone, no sensible man could do otherwise. This is becoming serious. I hardly know what results may not be expected to follow the communication of your approaching change in life to Mrs. LeCount. My niece may be involved in those results. She is nervous. She is sensitive in the highest degree. She is the innocent object of this woman's un-reasoning hatred and distrust. You alarm me, sir. I am not easily thrown off my balance, but I acknowledge you alarm me for the future. He frowned, shook his head and looked at his visitor despondently. No vanstone began to feel uneasy. The change in Mr. Bygrave's manner seemed ominous of a reconsideration of his proposals from a new and unfavourable point of view. He took counsel of his inborn cowardice and his inborn cunning and proposed a solution of the difficulty discovered by himself. Why, should we tell LeCount at all? he asked. What right does LeCount know? Can't we be married without letting her into the secret? And can't somebody tell her afterward when we are both out of her reach? Captain Ragh received this proposal with an expression of surprise which did infinite credit to his power of control over his own countenance. His foremost object throughout the interview had been to conduct it to this point or in other words to make the first idea of keeping the marriage a secret from Mrs. LeCount emanate from no vanstone instead of from himself. No one knew better than the captain that the only responsibilities which a weak man ever accepts are responsibilities which can be perpetually pointed out to him as resting exclusively on his own shoulders. I am accustomed to set my face against clandestine proceedings of all kinds said Captain Ragh. But there are exceptions to the strictest rules and I am bound to admit Mr. Vanstone that your position in this matter is an exceptional position if ever there was one yet. The course you have just proposed however unbecoming I may think it however distasteful it may be to myself would not only spare you a very serious embarrassment to say the least of it but would also protect you from the personal assertion of those pecuniary claims on the part of your housekeeper to which you have already adverted. These are both desirable results to achieve to say nothing of the removal on my side of all apprehension of annoyance to my niece. On the other hand however a marriage solemnised with such privacy as you propose must be a hasty marriage for as we are situated the longer the delay the greater will be the risk that our secret may escape our keeping. I am not against hasty marriages where a mutual flame is found by an adequate income my own was a love match contracted in a hurry there are plenty of instances of everyone of short courtships and speedy marriages which have turned up trumps I beg your pardon which have turned out well after all but if you and my niece Mr Vanstone are to add one to the number of these eases the usual preliminaries of marriage among the higher classes must be hastened by some means you doubtless understand me as now referring to the subject of settlements I'll take another teaspoon full of brandy said no Vanstone holding out his glass with a trembling hand as the word settlements past Captain Rags lips I'll take a teaspoon full with you said the captain nimbly dismounting from the pedestal of his respectability and sipping his brandy with the highest relish No Vanstone after nervously following his host's example composed himself to meet the coming ordeal with reclining head and grasping hands in the position familiarly associated to all cultivated humanity with a seat in a dentist's chair the captain put down his empty glass and got up again on his pedestal we were talking of settlements he resumed I have already mentioned Mr Vanstone at an early period of our conversation that my niece presents the man of her choice with no other diary than the most inestimable of all gifts the gift of herself this circumstance however as you are no doubt aware does not disentitle me to make the customary stipulations with her future husband according to the usual course in this matter my lawyer would see yours consultations would take place delays would occur strangers would be in possession of your intentions and Mrs LeCount would sooner or later arrive at that knowledge of the truth which you are anxious to keep from her do you agree with me so far? unutterable apprehension closed No Vanstone's lips he could only reply by an inclination of the head very good said the captain now sir I possibly have observed that I am a man of a very original turn of mind if I have not hitherto struck you in that light it may then be necessary to mention that there are some subjects on which I persist in thinking for myself the subject of marriage settlements is one of them what let me ask you does a parent or guardian in my present condition usually do after having trusted the man chosen for his son-in-law with the sacred deposit of a woman's happiness he turns round on that man and declines to trust him with the infinitely inferior responsibility of providing for her pecuniary future he fetters his son-in-law with the most binding document the law can produce and employs with the husband of his own child the same precautions which he would use if he were dealing with a stranger and a rogue I call such conduct as this inconsistent and unbecoming in the last degree you will not find in my course of conduct, Mr. Vanstone you will not find me preaching what I don't practice if I trust you with my niece I trust you with every inferior responsibility toward her and toward me give me your hand, sir tell me on your word of honour that you will provide for your wife as becomes her position and your means and the question of settlements is decided between us from this moment at once and forever having carried out Magdalene's instructions in this lofty tone he threw open his respectable frockcoat and sat with head erect and hand extended the model of parental feeling and the picture of human integrity for one moment Vanstone remained literally petrified by astonishment the next he started from his chair and rung the hand of his magnanimous friend in a perfect transport of admiration never yet throughout his long and varied career had Captain Ragh felt such difficulty in keeping his countenance as he felt now contempt for the outburst of miserly gratitude of which he was the object triumph in the sense of successful conspiracy against a man who had rated the offer of his protection at five pounds regret at the lost opportunity of effecting a fine stroke of moral agriculture which his dread of involving himself in coming consequences had forced him to let slip all these varied emotions agitated the captain's mind all strove together to find their way to the surface through the outlets of his face he allowed Noel Vanstone to keep possession of his hand and to heap one series of shrill protestations and promises on another until he had regained his usual mastery over himself that result achieved he put the little man back in his chair and returned forthwith to the subject of Mrs. LeCount suppose we now revert to the difficulty which we have not conquered yet said the captain let us say that I do violence to my own habits and feelings that I allow the considerations I have already mentioned to weigh with me and that I sanction your wish to be united to my knees without the knowledge of Mrs. LeCount allowing me to inquire in that case what means you can suggest for the accomplishment of your end I can't suggest anything replied Noel Vanstone helplessly would you object to suggest for me you are making a bolder request than you think Mr. Vanstone I never do things by halves when I am acting with my customary candor I am frank as you know already to the uttermost verge of imprudence when exceptional circumstances compel me to take an opposite course there isn't a slyer fox alive than I am if at your express request I take off my honest English coat here and put on a Jesuits gown if purely out of sympathy for your awkward position I consent to keep your secret for you from Mrs. LeCount I must have no unseasonable scruples to contend with on your part if it is neck or nothing on my side sir it must be neck or nothing on yours also neck or nothing by all means said Noel Vanstone briskly on the understanding that you go first I have no scruples about keeping LeCount in the dark but she is devilish cunning Mr. Bygrave how is it to be done you shall hear directly replied the captain before I develop my views I should like to have your opinion on an abstract question of morality what do you think my dear sir of pious frauds in general Noel Vanstone looked a little embarrassed by the question shall I put it more plainly continued captain rag what to say to the universally accepted maxim that all stratagems are fair in love and war yes or no answered Noel Vanstone with the utmost readiness one more question and I have done said the captain do you see any particular objection to practicing a pious fraud on Mrs. LeCount Noel Vanstone's resolution began to falter a little is LeCount likely to find it out he asked cautiously she can't possibly discover it until you are married and out for a reach you are sure of that quite sure play any trick you like on LeCount said Noel Vanstone with an air of unutterable relief I have had my suspicions lately that she is trying to domineer over me I am beginning to feel that I have borne with LeCount long enough I wish I was well rid of her you shall have your wish said captain rag you shall be rid of her in a week or ten days Noel Vanstone rose eagerly and approached the captain's chair you don't say so he exclaimed how do you mean to send her away I mean to send her on a journey replied captain rag from your house at Oldborough to her brother's bedside at Zurich Noel Vanstone started back at the answer and returned suddenly to his chair how can you do that he inquired in the greatest perplexity her brother hang him is much better from Zurich to say so this morning did you see the letter yes she always worries about her brother she would show it to me who was it from and what did it say it was from her doctor he always writes to her I don't care too straws about her brother I don't remember much of the letter except that it was a short one the fellow was much better and if the doctor didn't write again she might take it for granted that he was getting well that was the substance of it did you notice where she put the letter when you gave it to her back again yes she put it in the drawer where she keeps her account books can you get at that drawer of course I can I have got a duplicate key I always insist on a duplicate key of the place where she keeps her account books I never allow the account books to be locked up from my inspection it's a rule of the house be so good as to get that letter today Mr Vanstone without your housekeeper's knowledge and add to the favour by letting me have it here privately for an hour or two what do you want it for I have some more questions to ask before I tell you have you any intimate friend at Zurich whom you could trust to help you in playing a trick on Mrs LeCount what sort of help do you mean Mr Vanstone suppose said the captain you were to send a letter addressed to Mrs LeCount at Aldbra enclosed in another letter addressed to one of your friends abroad and suppose you were to instruct that friend to help a harmless practical joke by posting Mrs LeCount's letter at Zurich do you know anyone who could be trusted to do that I know two people who could be trusted Gridnell Vanstone both ladies, both spinsters both bitter enemies of LeCount but what is your drift Mr Biagrave though I'm not usually wanting in penetration I don't all together see your drift you shall see it directly Mr Vanstone with those words he rose withdrew to his desk in the corner of the room and wrote a few lines on a sheet of note paper after first reading them carefully to himself he beckoned to Neal Vanstone to come and read them too a few minutes since said the captain pointing complacently to his own composition with the feather end of his pen I had the honor of suggesting a pious fraud on Mrs LeCount there it is he resigned his chair at the writing table to his visitor Neal Vanstone sat down and read these lines my dear madam since I last wrote I deeply regret to inform you that your brother has suffered a relapse the symptoms are so serious that it is my painful duty to summon you instantly to his bedside I am making every effort to resist the renewed progress of the Malady I have not yet lost all hope of success but I cannot reconcile it to my conscience to leave you in ignorance of a serious change in my patient for the worse which may be attended by fatal results with much sympathy I remain etc etc Captain Rag waited with some anxiety for the effect which this letter might produce mean selfish and cowardly as he was even Neal Vanstone might feel some compunction of practicing such a deception as was here suggested on a woman who stood toward him in the position of Mrs LeCount she had served him faithfully however interested her motives might be she had lived since he was a lad in the full possession of his father's confidence she was living now under the protection of his own roof could he fail to remember this and remembering it could he lend his aid without hesitation to the scheme which was now proposed to him Captain Rag unconsciously retained belief enough in human nature to doubt it to his surprise and it must be added to his relief also his apprehensions proved to be groundless the only emotions aroused in Neal Vanstone's mind by a perusal of this letter were a hearty admiration of his friend's idea of his glorious anxiety to claim the credit to himself of being the person who carried it out examples may be found every day of a fool who is no coward examples may be found occasionally of a fool who is not cunning but it may reasonably doubted whether there is a producible instance anywhere of a fool who is not cruel perfect cried Neal Vanstone clapping his hands you are as good as Figaro in the French comedy talking of French there is one serious mistake in this clever letter of yours it is written in the wrong language when the doctor writes to La Count he writes in French perhaps you meant me to translate it you can't manage without my help can you I write French as fluently as I write English just look at me I'll translate it while I sit here in two strokes of the pen he completed the translation almost as rapidly as Captain Ragh had produced the original wait a minute he cried in high critical triumph at discovering another defect in the composition of his ingenious friend the doctor always dates his letters here is no date to yours I leave the date to you said the captain with a sardonic smile you have discovered the fault my dear sir pray correct it Neal Vanstone mentally looked into the great gulf which separates the faculty that can discover a defect from the faculty that can apply a remedy and following the example of many a wiser man declined to cross over it I couldn't think of taking the liberty he said politely perhaps you had a motive for leaving the date out perhaps I had replied Captain Ragh with his easiest good humour the date must depend on the time a letter takes to get to Zurich I have had no experience on that point you must have had plenty of experience in your father's time give me the benefit of your information and we will add the date before you leave the writing table Neal Vanstone's experience was as Captain Ragh had anticipated perfectly competent to settle the question of time the railway resources of the continent in the year 1847 were but scanty and a letter sent at that period from England to Zurich and from Zurich back again to England occupied ten days in making the double journey by post date the letter in French five days on from tomorrow said the captain when he had got this information very good the next thing is to let me have the doctor's note as soon as you can I may be obliged to practice some hours before I can copy your translation in an exact imitation of the doctor's handwriting have you got any foreign note paper let me have a few sheets and send at the same time an envelope addressed to one of those lady friends of yours at Zurich accompanied by the necessary request to post the enclosure this is all I need trouble you to do Mr Van Stone don't let me seem inhospitable but the sooner you can supply me with my materials the better I shall be pleased we entirely understand each other I suppose having accepted your proposal for my niece's hand I sanction a private marriage in consideration of the circumstances on your side a little harmless stratagem is necessary to forward your views I invent the stratagem at your request and you make use of it without the least hesitation the result is that in ten days from tomorrow Mrs LeCount will be on her way to Switzerland in fifteen days from tomorrow Mrs LeCount will reach Zurich and discover the trick we have played her in twenty days from tomorrow Mrs LeCount will be back at Albre and will find her master's wedding cards on the table and her master himself away on his honeymoon trip I put it arithmetically for the sake of putting it plain God bless you good morning I suppose I may have the happiness of seeing Miss Bygrave tomorrow said Noel Van Stone turning round at the door we must be careful replied Captain Rag I don't forbid tomorrow but I make no promise beyond that permit me to remind you that we have got Mrs LeCount to manage for the next ten days I wish LeCount was at the bottom of the German ocean exclaimed Noel Van Stone fervently it's all very well for you to manage her you don't have to live in the house what am I to do I'll tell you tomorrow said the Captain go out for your walk alone and drop in here as you dropped in today at two o'clock in the meantime don't forget those things I want you to send me seal them up together in a large envelope when you have done that ask Mrs LeCount to walk out with you as usual and while she's upstairs putting her bonnet on send the servant across to me you understand? good morning an hour afterward the sealed envelope with its enclosures reached Captain Rag in perfect safety the double task of exactly imitating a strange handwriting and accurately copying words written in a language with which he was but slightly acquainted presented more difficult as to be overcome than the Captain had anticipated it was eleven o'clock before the employment which he had undertaken was successfully completed and the letter Desorec ready for the post before going to bed he walked out on the deserted parade to breathe the cool night air all the lights were extinguished in seaview cottage when he looked that way except the light in the housekeeper's window Captain Rag shook his head suspiciously he had gained experience enough by this time to distrust the wakefulness of Mrs LeCount End of Chapter 8 Fourth Scene