'When the time comes for smiling,' said Magdalen, bitterly, 'trust my dramatic training for any change of face that may be necessary. Where is Mrs. Wragge?'
'Mrs. Wragge has learned her lesson,' replied the captain, 'and is rewarded by my permission to sit at work in her own room. I sanction her new fancy for dressmaking, because it is sure to absorb all her attention, and to keep her at home. There is no fear of her finishing the Oriental Robe in a hurry, for there is no mistake in the process of making it which she is not certain to commit. She will sit incubating her gown—pardon the expression—like a hen over an addled egg. I assure you, her new whim relieves me. Nothing could be more convenient, under existing circumstances.'
He strutted away to the window, looked out, and beckoned to Magdalen to join him. 'There they are!' he said, and pointed to the Parade.
Noel Vanstone slowly walked by, as she looked, dressed in a complete suit of old-fashioned nankeen. It was apparently one of the days when the state of his health was at the worst. He leaned on Mrs. Lecount's arm, and was protected from the sun by a light umbrella which she held over him. The housekeeper—dressed to perfection, as usual, in a quiet, lavender-colored summer gown, a black mantilla, an unassuming straw bonnet, and a crisp blue veil—escorted her invalid master with the tenderest attention; sometimes directing his notice respectfully to the various objects of the sea view; sometimes bending her head in graceful acknowledgment of the courtesy of passing strangers on the Parade, who stepped aside to let the invalid pass by. She produced a visible effect among the idlers on the beach. They looked after her with unanimous interest, and exchanged confidential nods of approval which said, as plainly as words could have expressed it, 'A very domestic person! a truly superior woman!'
Captain Wragge's party-colored eyes followed Mrs. Lecount with a steady, distrustful attention. 'Tough work for us
'Wait,' said Magdalen, quietly. 'Wait and see.'
She walked to the door. The captain followed her without making any further remark. 'I'll wait till you're married,' he thought to himself—'not a moment longer, offer me what you may.'
At the h ouse door Magdalen addressed him again.
'We will go that way,' she said, pointing southward, 'then turn, and meet them as they come back.'
Captain Wragge signified his approval of the arrangement, and followed Magdalen to the garden gate. As she opened it to pass through, her attention was attracted by a lady, with a nursery-maid and two little boys behind her, loitering on the path outside the garden wall. The lady started, looked eagerly, and smiled to herself as Magdalen came out. Curiosity had got the better of Kirke's sister, and she had come to Aldborough for the express purpose of seeing Miss Bygrave.
Something in the shape of the lady's face, something in the expression of her dark eyes, reminded Magdalen of the merchant-captain whose uncontrolled admiration had annoyed her on the previous evening. She instantly returned the stranger's scrutiny by a frowning, ungracious look. The lady colored, paid the look back with interest, and slowly walked on.
'A hard, bold, bad girl,' thought Kirke's sister. 'What could Robert be thinking of to admire her? I am almost glad he is gone. I hope and trust he will never set eyes on Miss Bygrave again.'
'What boors the people are here!' said Magdalen to Captain Wragge. 'That woman was even ruder than the man last night. She is like him in the face. I wonder who she is?'
'I'll find out directly,' said the captain. 'We can't be too cautious about strangers.' He at once appealed to his friends, the boatmen. They were close at hand, and Magdalen heard the questions and answers plainly.
'How are you all this morning?' said Captain Wragge, in his easy jocular way. 'And how's the wind? Nor'-west and by west, is it? Very good. Who is that lady?'
'That's Mrs. Strickland, sir.'
'Ay! ay! The clergyman's wife and the captain's sister. Where's the captain to-day?'
'On his way to London, I should think, sir. His ship sails for China at the end of the week.'
China! As that one word passed the man's lips, a pang of the old sorrow struck Magdalen to the heart. Stranger as he was, she began to hate the bare mention of the merchant-captain's name. He had troubled her dreams of the past night; and now, when she was most desperately and recklessly bent on forgetting her old home-existence, he had been indirectly the cause of recalling her mind to Frank.
'Come!' she said, angrily, to her companion. 'What do we care about the man or his ship? Come away.'
'By all means,' said Captain Wragge. 'As long as we don't find friends of the Bygraves, what do we care about anybody?'
They walked on southward for ten minutes or more, then turned and walked back again to meet Noel Vanstone and Mrs. Lecount.
CHAPTER IV.
CAPTAIN WRAGGE and Magdalen retraced their steps until they were again within view of North Shingles Villa before any signs appeared of Mrs. Lecount and her master. At that point the housekeeper's lavender-colored dress, the umbrella, and the feeble little figure in nankeen walking under it, became visible in the distance. The captain slackened his pace immediately, and issued his directions to Magdalen for her conduct at the coming interview in these words:
'Don't forget your smile,' he said. 'In all other respects you will do. The walk has improved your complexion, and the hat becomes you. Look Mrs. Lecount steadily in the face; show no embarrassment when you speak; and if Mr. Noel Vanstone pays you pointed attention, don't take too much notice of him while his housekeeper's eye is on you. Mind one thing! I have been at Joyce's Scientific Dialogues all the morning; and I am quite serious in meaning to give Mrs. Lecount the full benefit of my studies. If I can't contrive to divert her attention from you and her master, I won't give sixpence for our chance of success. Small-talk won't succeed with that woman; compliments won't succeed; jokes won't succeed—ready-made science may recall the deceased professor, and ready-made science may do. We must establish a code of signals to let you know what I am about. Observe this camp-stool. When I shift it from my left hand to my right, I am talking Joyce. When I shift it from my right hand to my left, I am talking Wragge. In the first case, don't interrupt me—I am leading up to my point. In the second case, say anything
