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, returning to Sea View
with this message, met the postman, and took
into the breakfast-room with her two letters
addressed to Mrs. Lecount.

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. Lecount, 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 "Norah Vanstone,"
but "Harriet Garth."

Miss Garth's letter 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 at 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 Magdalen
Vanstone had not written since the middle of
July—on which occasion the post-mark on the
letter showed that it must have been posted in
London, in the district of Lambeth—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
Aldborough to assist Mrs. Lecount's object—but that
she was provided with a substitute, in every way
fitter for the purpose, in the person of Mr.
Pendril. That gentleman was well acquainted with
Miss Magdalen Vanstone; and his professional
experience and discretion would render his
assistance doubly valuable. He had kindly
consented to travel to Aldborough 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. Pendril's services; and
the execution of Mr. Noel Vanstone's intentions
towards 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 Magdalen could
be recognised; and it included the "two little
moles close together on the left side of the neck,"
which had been formerly mentioned in the printed
handbills 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 towards Mr. Noel 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 writer's
fervent assurances that she would do all for
Magdalen'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
matters 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 Miss
Bygrave'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. Pendril's appearance.
It presented a 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 Aldborough post-mark, 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.
Lecount's possession) to raise the veil which
hung over the conspiracy, and to place Mr. Noel
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