that he had been requested to keep the key of
the house in his possession until Mr. Bygrave
returned to claim it in his own person.

Baffled, but not discouraged, Mrs. Lecount
turned her steps next towards the back street of
Aldborough, and astonished the servant's
relatives by conferring on them the honour of a
morning call.

Easily imposed on, at starting, by Mrs.
Lecount's pretence of calling to engage her, under
the impression that she had left Mr. Bygrave's
service—the servant did her best to answer the
questions put to her. But she knew as little as the
landlord of her master's plans. All she could say
about them was, that she had not been dismissed,
and that she was to await the receipt of a note
recalling her when necessary to her situation at
North Shingles. Not having expected to find her
better informed on this part of the subject, Mrs.
Lecount smoothly shifted her ground, and led the
woman into talking generally of the advantages
and defects of her situation in Mr. Bygrave's
family.

Profiting by the knowledge gained, in this
indirect manner, of the little secrets of the household,
Mrs. Lecount made two discoveries. She
found out, in the first place, that the servant
(having enough to do in attending to the coarser
part of the domestic work) was in no position
to disclose the secrets of Miss Bygrave's wardrobe,
which were known only to the young lady
herself and to her aunt. In the second place,
the housekeeper ascertained that the true reason
of Mrs. Bygrave's rigid seclusion, was to be
found in the simple fact that she was little better
than an idiot, and that her husband was probably
ashamed of allowing her to be seen in public.
These apparently trivial discoveries enlightened
Mrs. Lecount on a very important point which
had been previously involved in doubt. She was
now satisfied that the likeliest way to obtaining
a private investigation of Magdalen's wardrobe
lay through deluding the imbecile lady, and not
through bribing the ignorant servant.

Having reached that conclusion—pregnant
with coming assaults on the weakly-fortified
discretion of poor Mrs. Wragge—the housekeeper
cautiously abstained from exhibiting herself any
longer under an inquisitive aspect. She changed
the conversation to local topics; waited until
she was sure of leaving an excellent impression
behind her; and then took her leave.

Three days passed; and Mrs. Lecount and her
master—each with their widely-different ends in
view—watched with equal anxiety for the first
signs of returning life in the direction of North
Shingles. In that interval, no letter either from
the uncle or the niece arrived for Mr. Noel
Vanstone. His sincere feeling of irritation under
this neglectful treatment, greatly assisted the
effect of those feigned doubts on the subject
of his absent friends, which the captain had
recommended him to express in the
housekeeper's presence. He confessed his
apprehensions of having been mistaken, not in Mr.
Bygrave only, but even in his niece as well, with
such a genuine air of annoyance, that he actually
contributed a new element of confusion to the
existing perplexities of Mrs. Lecount.

On the morning of the fourth day, Mr. Noel
Vanstone met the postman in the garden;
and, to his great relief, discovered among the
letters delivered to him, a note from Mr.
Bygrave.

The date of the note was " Woodbridge," and
it contained a few lines only. Mr. Bygrave
mentioned that his niece was better, and that she sent
her love as before. He proposed returning to
Aldborough on the next day—when he would have
some new considerations, of a strictly private
nature, to present to Mr. Noel Vanstone's mind. In
the mean time he would beg Mr. Vanstone not to
call at North Shingles, until he received a special
invitation to do so—which invitation should
certainly be given on the day when the family
returned. The motive of this apparently strange
request should be explained to Mr. Vanstone's
perfect satisfaction, when he was once more
united to his friends. Until that period arrived,
the strictest caution was enjoined on him in all
his communications with Mrs. Lecount—and the
instant destruction of Mr. Bygrave's letter, after
due perusal of it, was (if the classical phrase might
be pardoned) a sine quá non.

The fifth day came. Mr. Noel Vanstone (after
submitting himself to the sine quá non, and
destroying the letter) waited anxiously for results;
while Mrs. Lecount, on her side, watched patiently
for events. Towards three o'clock in the afternoon,
the carriage appeared again at the gate of North
Shingles. Mr. Bygrave got out, and tripped
away briskly to the landlord's cottage for the
key. He returned with the servant at his heels.
Miss Bygrave left the carriage; her giant-relative
followed her example; the house-door was
opened; the trunks were taken off; the carriage
disappeared—and the Bygraves were at home
again!

Four o'clock struck, five o'clock, six o'clock,
and nothing happened. In half an hour more
Mr. Bygrave—spruce, speckless, and respectable
as ever—appeared on the parade, sauntering
composedly in the direction of Sea View.

Instead of at once entering the house, he
passed it; stopped, as if struck by a sudden
recollection; and, retracing his steps, asked for
Mr. Vanstone, at the door. Mr. Vanstone came
out hospitably into the passage. Pitching his
voice to a tone which could be easily heard by
any listening individual, through any open door
in the bedroom regions, Mr. Bygrave announced
the object of his visit, on the door-mat, in the
fewest possible words. He had been staying with
a distant relative. The distant relative possessed
two pictures—Gems by the Old Masters—which
he was willing to dispose of, and which he had
entrusted for that purpose to Mr. Bygrave's care.
If Mr. Noel Vanstone, as an amateur in such
matters, wished to see the Gems, they would