"In the first place, I request you to dispose
(as privately as possible) of every article of
costume used in the dramatic Entertainment. I
have done with our performances for ever; and
I wish to be set free from everything which
might accidentally connect me with them in the
future. The key of my box is enclosed in this
letter.

"The other box, which contains my own
dresses, you will be kind enough to forward to
this house. I do not ask you to bring it yourself,
because I have a far more important commission
to entrust to you.

"Referring to the note which you left for me
at your departure, I conclude that you have, by
this time, traced Mr. Noel Vanstone from Vauxhall
Walk to the residence which he is now occupying.
If you have made the discovery—
and if you are quite sure of not having drawn
the attention either of Mrs. Lecount or her
master to yourself—I wish you to arrange
immediately for my residing (with you and Mrs.
Wragge) in the same town or village in which
Mr. Noel Vanstone has taken up his abode. I
write this, it is hardly necessary to say, under
the impression that, wherever he may now be
living, he is settled in the place for some little
time.

" If you can find a small furnished house for
me on these conditions, which is to be let by the
month, take it for a month certain to begin with.
Say that it is for your wife, your niece, and
yourself; and use any assumed name you please, as
long as it is a name which can be trusted to
defeat the most suspicious inquiries. I leave
this to your experience in such matters. The
secret of who we really are, must be kept as
strictly as if it was a secret on which our lives
depend.

" Any expenses to which you may be put in
carrying out my wishes, I will immediately repay.
If you easily find the sort of house I want,
there is no need for your returning to London
to fetch us. We can join you as soon as we
know where to go. The house must be perfectly
respectable, and must be reasonably near to Mr.
Noel Vanstone's present residence, wherever
that is.

"You must allow me to be silent in this letter
as to the object which I have now in view. I
am unwilling to risk an explanation in writing.
When all our preparations are made, you shall
hear what I propose to do from my own lips; and
I shall expect you to tell me plainly in return
whether you will, or will not, give me the help
I want, on the best terms which I am able to
offer you.

" One word more before I seal up this letter.

" If any opportunity falls in your way, after
you have taken the house, and before we join
you, of exchanging a few civil words either with
Mr. Noel Vanstone or Mrs. Lecount, take advantage
of it. It is very important to my present
object that we should become acquainted with
each other—as the purely accidental result of
our being near neighbours. I want you to
smoothe the way towards this end, if you can,
before Mrs. Wragge and I come to you. Pray
throw away no chance of observing Mrs Lecount,
in particular, very carefully. Whatever help
you can give me at the outset, in blindfolding
that woman's sharp eyes, will be the most precious
help I have ever received at your hands.

"There is no need to answer this letter immediately
—unless I have written it under a mistaken
impression of what you have accomplished
since leaving London. I have taken our lodgings
on for another week; and I can wait to hear
from you, until you are able to send me such
news as I wish to receive. You may be quite
sure of my patience for the future, under all possible
circumstances. My caprices are at an end;
and my violent temper has tried your forbearance
for the last time.

"MAGDALEN."

XII.

CAPTAIN WRAGGE TO MAGDALEN.

"North Shingles Villa, Aldborough, Suffolk,

"July 22nd.

"My dear Girl,

"Your letter has charmed and touched me.
Your excuses have gone straight to my heart;
and your confidence in my humble abilities has
followed in the same direction. The pulse of the
old militiaman throbs with pride as he thinks
of the trust you have placed in him, and vows to
deserve it. Don't be surprised at this genial
outburst. All enthusiastic natures must explode
occasionally: and my form of explosion is—
Words.

"Everything you wanted me to do, is done.
The house is taken; the name is found; and I
am personally acquainted with Mrs. Lecount.
After reading this general statement, you will
naturally be interested in possessing your mind
next of the accompanying details. Here they
are, at your service:

"The day after leaving you in London, I traced
Mr. Noel Vanstone to this curious little sea-side
snuggery. One of his father's innumerable bargains
was a house at Aldborough—a rising
watering-place, or Mr. Michael Vanstone would
not have invested a farthing in it. In this house
the despicable little miser who lived rent free in
London, now lives rent free again, on the coast
of Suffolk. He is settled in his present abode
for the summer and autumn; and you and
Mrs. Wragge have only to join me here, to be
established five doors away from him in this
elegant villa. I have got the whole house for
three guineas a week, with the option of remaining
through the autumn at the same price. In
a fashionable watering-place, such a residence
would have been cheap at double the money.

"Our new name, has been chosen with a
wary eye to your suggestions. My Books—
I hope you have not forgotten my Books?—
contain, under the heading of Skins To Jump
Into, a list of individuals retired from this mortal
scene, with whose names, families, and circumstances