The lowering distrust on Captain Wragge’s face cleared away at the sight of her. There had been moments during the afternoon when he had seriously doubted whether the pleasure of satisfying the grudge3 he owed to Noel Vanstone, and the prospect4 of earning the sum of two hundred pounds, would not be dearly purchased by running the risk of discovery to which Magdalen’s uncertain temper might expose him at any hour of the day. The plain proof now before him of her powers of self-control relieved his mind of a serious anxiety. It mattered little to the captain what she suffered in the privacy of her own chamber5, as long as she came out of it with a face that would bear inspection6, and a voice that betrayed nothing.
On the way to Sea-view Cottage, Captain Wragge expressed his intention of asking the housekeeper7 a few sympathizing questions on the subject of her invalid8 brother in Switzerland. He was of opinion that the critical condition of this gentleman’s health might exercise an important influence on the future progress of the conspiracy9. Any chance of a separation, he remarked, between the housekeeper and her master was, under existing circumstances, a chance which merited the closest investigation10. “If we can only get Mrs. Lecount out of the way at the right time,” whispered the captain, as he opened his host’s garden gate, “our man is caught!”
In a minute more Magdalen was again under Noel Vanstone’s roof; this time in the character of his own invited guest.
The proceedings12 of the evening were for the most part a repetition of the proceedings during the morning walk. Noel Vanstone vibrated between his admiration13 of Magdalen’s beauty and his glorification14 of his own possessions. Captain Wragge’s inexhaustible outbursts of information—relieved by delicately-indirect inquiries15 relating to Mrs. Lecount’s brother—perpetually diverted the housekeeper’s jealous vigilance from dwelling16 on the looks and language of her master. So the evening passed until ten o’clock. By that time the captain’s ready-made science was exhausted18, and the housekeeper’s temper was forcing its way to the surface. Once more Captain Wragge warned Magdalen by a look, and, in spite of Noel Vanstone’s hospitable19 protest, wisely rose to say good-night.
“I have got my information,” remarked the captain on the way back. “Mrs. Lecount’s brother lives at Zurich. He is a bachelor; he possesses a little money, and his sister is his nearest relation. If he will only be so obliging as to break up altogether, he will save us a world of trouble with Mrs. Lecount.”
It was a fine moonlight night. He looked round at Magdalen, as he said those words, to see if her intractable depression of spirits had seized on her again.
No! her variable humor had changed once more. She looked about her with a flaunting20, feverish21 gayety; she scoffed22 at the bare idea of any serious difficulty with Mrs. Lecount; she mimicked23 Noel Vanstone’s high-pitched voice, and repeated Noel Vanstone’s high-flown compliments, with a bitter enjoyment24 of turning him into ridicule25. Instead of running into the house as before, she sauntered carelessly by her companion’s side, humming little snatches of song, and kicking the loose pebbles26 right and left on the garden-walk. Captain Wragge hailed the change in her as the best of good omens27. He thought he saw plain signs that the family spirit was at last coming back again.
“Well,” he said, as he lit her bedroom candle for her, “when we all meet on the Parade tomorrow, we shall see, as our nautical28 friends say, how the land lies. One thing I can tell you, my dear girl—I have used my eyes to very little purpose if there is not a storm brewing29 tonight in Mr. Noel Vanstone’s domestic atmosphere.”
The captain’s habitual30 penetration31 had not misled him. As soon as the door of Sea-view Cottage was closed on the parting guests, Mrs. Lecount made an effort to assert the authority which Magdalen’s influence was threatening already.
She employed every artifice32 of which she was mistress to ascertain33 Magdalen’s true position in Noel Vanstone’s estimation. She tried again and again to lure34 him into an unconscious confession35 of the pleasure which he felt already in the society of the beautiful Miss Bygrave; she twined herself in and out of every weakness in his character, as the frogs and efts twined themselves in and out of the rock-work of her Aquarium36. But she made one serious mistake which very clever people in their intercourse37 with their intellectual inferiors are almost universally apt to commit—she trusted implicitly38 to the folly39 of a fool. She forgot that one of the lowest of human qualities—cunning—is exactly the capacity which is often most largely developed in the lowest of intellectual natures. If she had been honestly angry with her master, she would probably have frightened him. If she had opened her mind plainly to his view, she would have astonished him by presenting a chain of ideas to his limited perceptions which they were not strong enough to grasp; his curiosity would have led him to ask for an explanation; and by practicing on that curiosity, she might have had him at her mercy. As it was, she set her cunning against his, and the fool proved a match for her. Noel Vanstone, to whom all large-minded motives41 under heaven were inscrutable mysteries, saw the small-minded motive40 at the bottom of his housekeeper’s conduct with as instantaneous a penetration as if he had been a man of the highest ability. Mrs. Lecount left him for the night, foiled, and knowing she was foiled—left him, with the tigerish side of her uppermost, and a low-lived longing42 in her elegant finger-nails to set them in her master’s face.
She was not a woman to be beaten by one defeat or by a hundred. She was positively43 determined44 to think, and think again, until she had found a means of checking the growing intimacy45 with the Bygraves at once and forever. In the solitude46 of her own room she recovered her composure, and set herself for the first time to review the conclusions which she had gathered from the events of the day.
There was something vaguely47 familiar to her in the voice of this Miss Bygrave, and, at the same time, in unaccountable contradiction, something strange to her as well. The face and figure of the young lady were entirely48 new to her. It was a striking face, and a striking figure; and if she had seen either at any former period, she would certainly have remembered it. Miss Bygrave was unquestionably a stranger; and yet—
She had got no further than this during the day; she could get no further now: the chain of thought broke. Her mind took up the fragments, and formed another chain which attached itself to the lady who was kept in seclusion49—to the aunt, who looked well, and yet was nervous; who was nervous, and yet able to ply50 her needle and thread. An incomprehensible resemblance to some unremembered voice in the niece; an unintelligible51 malady53 which kept the aunt secluded54 from public view; an extraordinary range of scientific cultivation55 in the uncle, associated with a coarseness and audacity56 of manner which by no means suggested the idea of a man engaged in studious pursuits—were the members of this small family of three what they seemed on the surface of them?
With that question on her mind, she went to bed.
As soon as the candle was out, the darkness seemed to communicate some inexplicable57 perversity58 to her thoughts. They wandered back from present things to past, in spite of her. They brought her old master back to life again; they revived forgotten sayings and doings in the English circle at Zurich; they veered59 away to the old man’s death-bed at Brighton; they moved from Brighton to London; they entered the bare, comfortless room at Vauxhall Walk; they set the Aquarium back in its place on the kitchen table, and put the false Miss Garth in the chair by the side of it, shading her inflamed60 eyes from the light; they placed the anonymous61 letter, the letter which glanced darkly at a conspiracy, in her hand again, and brought her with it into her master’s presence; they recalled the discussion about filling in the blank space in the advertisement, and the quarrel that followed when she told Noel Vanstone that the sum he had offered was preposterously62 small; they revived an old doubt which had not troubled her for weeks past—a doubt whether the threatened conspiracy had evaporated in mere63 words, or whether she and her master were likely to hear of it again. At this point her thoughts broke off once more, and there was a momentary64 blank. The next instant she started up in bed; her heart beating violently, her head whirling as if she had lost her senses. With electric suddenness her mind pieced together its scattered65 multitude of thoughts, and put them before her plainly under one intelligible52 form. In the all-mastering agitation66 of the moment, she clapped her hands together, and cried out suddenly in the darkness:
“Miss Vanstone again!!!”
She got out of bed and kindled67 the light once more. Steady as her nerves were, the shock of her own suspicion had shaken them. Her firm hand trembled as she opened her dressing-case and took from it a little bottle of sal-volatile. In spite of her smooth cheeks and her well-preserved hair, she looked every year of her age as she mixed the spirit with water, greedily drank it, and, wrapping her dressing-gown round her, sat down on the bedside to get possession again of her calmer self.
She was quite incapable68 of tracing the mental process which had led her to discovery. She could not get sufficiently69 far from herself to see that her half-formed conclusions on the subject of the Bygraves had ended in making that family objects of suspicion to her; that the association of ideas had thereupon carried her mind back to that other object of suspicion which was represented by the conspiracy against her master; and that the two ideas of those two separate subjects of distrust, coming suddenly in contact, had struck the light. She was not able to reason back in this way from the effect to the cause. She could only feel that the suspicion had become more than a suspicion already: conviction itself could not have been more firmly rooted in her mind.
Looking back at Magdalen by the new light now thrown on her, Mrs. Lecount would fain have persuaded herself that she recognized some traces left of the false Miss Garth’s face and figure in the graceful70 and beautiful girl who had sat at her master’s table hardly an hour since—that she found resemblances now, which she had never thought of before, between the angry voice she had heard in Vauxhall Walk and the smooth, well-bred tones which still hung on her ears after the evening’s experience downstairs. She would fain have persuaded herself that she had reached these results with no undue71 straining of the truth as she really knew it, but the effort was in vain.
Mrs. Lecount was not a woman to waste time and thought in trying to impose on herself. She accepted the inevitable72 conclusion that the guesswork of a moment had led her to discovery. And, more than that, she recognized the plain truth—unwelcome as it was—that the conviction now fixed73 in her own mind was thus far unsupported by a single fragment of producible evidence to justify74 it to the minds of others.
Under these circumstances, what was the safe course to take with her master?
If she candidly75 told him, when they met the next morning, what had passed through her mind that night, her knowledge of Noel Vanstone warned her that one of two results would certainly happen. Either he would be angry and disputatious; would ask for proofs; and, finding none forthcoming, would accuse her of alarming him without a cause, to serve her own jealous end of keeping Magdalen out of the house; or he would be seriously startled, would clamor for the protection of the law, and would warn the Bygraves to stand on their defense76 at the outset. If Magdalen only had been concerned in the plot this latter consequence would have assumed no great importance in the housekeeper’s mind. But seeing the deception77 as she now saw it, she was far too clever a woman to fail in estimating the captain’s inexhaustible fertility of resource at its true value. “If I can’t meet this impudent78 villain79 with plain proofs to help me,” thought Mrs. Lecount, “I may open my master’s eyes to-morrow morning, and Mr. Bygrave will shut them up again before night. The rascal80 is playing with all his own cards under the table, and he will win the game to a certainty, if he sees my hand at starting.”
This policy of waiting was so manifestly the wise policy—the wily Mr. Bygrave was so sure to have provided himself, in case of emergency, with evidence to prove the identity which he and his niece had assumed for their purpose—that Mrs. Lecount at once decided81 to keep her own counsel the next morning, and to pause before attacking the conspiracy until she could produce unanswerable facts to help her. Her master’s acquaintance with the Bygraves was only an acquaintance of one day’s standing82. There was no fear of its developing into a dangerous intimacy if she merely allowed it to continue for a few days more, and if she permanently83 checked it, at the latest, in a week’s time.
In that period what measures could she take to remove the obstacles which now stood in her way, and to provide herself with the weapons which she now wanted?
Reflection showed her three different chances in her favor—three different ways of arriving at the necessary discovery.
The first chance was to cultivate friendly terms with Magdalen, and then, taking her unawares, to entrap84 her into betraying herself in Noel Vanstone’s presence. The second chance was to write to the elder Miss Vanstone, and to ask (with some alarming reason for putting the question) for information on the subject of her younger sister’s whereabouts, and of any peculiarities85 in her personal appearance which might enable a stranger to identify her. The third chance was to penetrate86 the mystery of Mrs. Bygrave’s seclusion, and to ascertain at a personal interview whether the invalid lady’s real complaint might not possibly be a defective87 capacity for keeping her husband’s secrets. Resolving to try all three chances, in the order in which they are here enumerated88, and to set her snares90 for Magdalen on the day that was now already at hand, Mrs. Lecount at last took off her dressing-gown and allowed her weaker nature to plead with her for a little sleep.
The dawn was breaking over the cold gray sea as she lay down in her bed again. The last idea in her mind before she fell asleep was characteristic of the woman—it was an idea that threatened the captain. “He has trifled with the sacred memory of my husband,” thought the Professor’s widow. “On my life and honor, I will make him pay for it.”
Early the next morning Magdalen began the day, according to her agreement with the captain, by taking Mrs. Wragge out for a little exercise at an hour when there was no fear of her attracting the public attention. She pleaded hard to be left at home; having the Oriental Cashmere Robe still on her mind, and feeling it necessary to read her directions for dressmaking, for the hundredth time at least, before (to use her own expression) she could “screw up her courage to put the scissors into the stuff.” But her companion would take no denial, and she was forced to go out. The one guileless purpose of the life which Magdalen now led was the resolution that poor Mrs. Wragge should not be made a prisoner on her account; and to that resolution she mechanically clung, as the last token left her by which she knew her better-self.
They returned later than usual to breakfast. While Mrs. Wragge was upstairs, straightening herself from head to foot to meet the morning inspection of her husband’s orderly eye; and while Magdalen and the captain were waiting for her in the parlor, the servant came in with a note from Sea-view Cottage. The messenger was waiting for an answer, and the note was addressed to Captain Wragge.
The captain opened the note and read these lines:
“DEAR SIR—Mr. Noel Vanstone desires me to write and tell you that he proposes enjoying this fine day by taking a long drive to a place on the coast here called Dunwich. He is anxious to know if you will share the expense of a carriage, and give him the pleasure of your company and Miss Bygrave’s company on this excursion. I am kindly91 permitted to be one of the party; and if I may say so without impropriety, I would venture to add that I shall feel as much pleasure as my master if you and your young lady will consent to join us. We propose leaving Aldborough punctually at eleven o’clock. Believe me, dear sir, your humble93 servant,
“VIRGINIE LECOUNT.”
“Who is the letter from?” asked Magdalen, noticing a change in Captain Wragge’s face as he read it. “What do they want with us at Sea-view Cottage?”
“Pardon me,” said the captain, gravely, “this requires consideration. Let me have a minute or two to think.”
He took a few turns up and down the room, then suddenly stepped aside to a table in a corner on which his writing materials were placed. “I was not born yesterday, ma’am!” said the captain, speaking jocosely94 to himself. He winked95 his brown eye, took up his pen, and wrote the answer.
“Can you speak now?” inquired Magdalen, when the servant had left the room. “What does that letter say, and how have you answered it?”
The captain placed the letter in her hand. “I have accepted the invitation,” he replied, quietly.
Magdalen read the letter. “Hidden enmity yesterday,” she said, “and open friendship to-day. What does it mean?”
“It means,” said Captain Wragge, “that Mrs. Lecount is even sharper than I thought her. She has found you out.”
“Impossible,” cried Magdalen. “Quite impossible in the time.”
“I can’t say how she has found you out,” proceeded the captain, with perfect composure. “She may know more of your voice than we supposed she knew. Or she may have thought us, on reflection, rather a suspicious family; and anything suspicious in which a woman was concerned may have taken her mind back to that morning call of yours in Vauxhall Walk. Whichever way it may be, the meaning of this sudden change is clear enough. She has found you out; and she wants to put her discovery to the proof by slipping in an awkward question or two, under cover of a little friendly talk. My experience of humanity has been a varied96 one, and Mrs. Lecount is not the first sharp practitioner97 in petticoats whom I have had to deal with. All the world’s a stage, my dear girl, and one of the scenes on our little stage is shut in from this moment.”
With those words he took his copy of Joyce’s Scientific Dialogues out of his pocket. “You’re done with already, my friend!” said the captain, giving his useful information a farewell smack98 with his hand, and locking it up in the cupboard. “Such is human popularity!” continued the indomitable vagabond, putting the key cheerfully in his pocket. “Yesterday Joyce was my all-in-all. To-day I don’t care that for him!” He snapped his fingers and sat down to breakfast.
“I don’t understand you,” said Magdalen, looking at him angrily. “Are you leaving me to my own resources for the future?”
“My dear girl!” cried Captain Wragge, “can’t you accustom99 yourself to my dash of humor yet? I have done with my ready-made science simply because I am quite sure that Mrs. Lecount has done believing in me. Haven’t I accepted the invitation to Dunwich? Make your mind easy. The help I have given you already counts for nothing compared with the help I am going to give you now. My honor is concerned in bowling100 out Mrs. Lecount. This last move of hers has made it a personal matter between us. The woman actually thinks she can take me in!!!” cried the captain, striking his knife-handle on the table in a transport of virtuous101 indignation. “By heavens, I never was so insulted before in my life! Draw your chair in to the table, my dear, and give me half a minute’s attention to what I have to say next.”
Magdalen obeyed him. Captain Wragge cautiously lowered his voice before he went on.
“I have told you all along,” he said, “the one thing needful is never to let Mrs. Lecount catch you with your wits wool-gathering. I say the same after what has happened this morning. Let her suspect you! I defy her to find a fragment of foundation for her suspicions, unless we help her. We shall see to-day if she has been foolish enough to betray herself to her master before she has any facts to support her. I doubt it. If she has told him, we will rain down proofs of our identity with the Bygraves on his feeble little head till it absolutely aches with conviction. You have two things to do on this excursion. First, to distrust every word Mrs. Lecount says to you. Secondly102, to exert all your fascinations103, and make sure of Mr. Noel Vanstone, dating from to-day. I will give you the opportunity when we leave the carriage and take our walk at Dunwich. Wear your hat, wear your smile; do your figure justice, lace tight; put on your neatest boots and brightest gloves; tie the miserable104 little wretch105 to your apron106-string—tie him fast; and leave the whole management of the matter after that to me. Steady! here is Mrs. Wragge: we must be doubly careful in looking after her now. Show me your cap, Mrs. Wragge! show me your shoes! What do I see on your apron? A spot? I won’t have spots! Take it off after breakfast, and put on another. Pull your chair to the middle of the table—more to the left—more still. Make the breakfast.”
At a quarter before eleven Mrs. Wragge (with her own entire concurrence) was dismissed to the back room, to bewilder herself over the science of dressmaking for the rest of the day. Punctually as the clock struck the hour, Mrs. Lecount and her master drove up to the gate of North Shingles107, and found Magdalen and Captain Wragge waiting for them in the garden.
On the way to Dunwich nothing occurred to disturb the enjoyment of the drive. Noel Vanstone was in excellent health and high good-humor. Lecount had apologized for the little misunderstanding of the previous night; Lecount had petitioned for the excursion as a treat to herself. He thought of these concessions108, and looked at Magdalen, and smirked109 and simpered without intermission. Mrs. Lecount acted her part to perfection. She was motherly with Magdalen and tenderly attentive110 to Noel Vanstone. She was deeply interested in Captain Wragge’s conversation, and meekly111 disappointed to find it turn on general subjects, to the exclusion112 of science. Not a word or look escaped her which hinted in the remotest degree at her real purpose. She was dressed with her customary elegance113 and propriety92; and she was the only one of the party on that sultry summer’s day who was perfectly114 cool in the hottest part of the journey.
As they left the carriage on their arrival at Dunwich, the captain seized a moment when Mrs. Lecount’s eye was off him and fortified115 Magdalen by a last warning word.
“‘Ware the cat!” he whispered. “She will show her claws on the way back.”
They left the village and walked to the ruins of a convent near at hand—the last relic116 of the once populous117 city of Dunwich which has survived the destruction of the place, centuries since, by the all-devouring sea. After looking at the ruins, they sought the shade of a little wood between the village and the low sand-hills which overlook the German Ocean. Here Captain Wragge maneuvered118 so as to let Magdalen and Noel Vanstone advance some distance in front of Mrs. Lecount and himself, took the wrong path, and immediately lost his way with the most consummate120 dexterity121. After a few minutes’ wandering (in the wrong direction), he reached an open space near the sea; and politely opening his camp-stool for the housekeeper’s accommodation, proposed waiting where they were until the missing members of the party came that way and discovered them.
Mrs. Lecount accepted the proposal. She was perfectly well aware that her escort had lost himself on purpose, but that discovery exercised no disturbing influence on the smooth amiability122 of her manner. Her day of reckoning with the captain had not come yet—she merely added the new item to her list, and availed herself of the camp-stool. Captain Wragge stretched himself in a romantic attitude at her feet, and the two determined enemies (grouped like two lovers in a picture) fell into as easy and pleasant a conversation as if they had been friends of twenty years’ standing.
“I know you, ma’am!” thought the captain, while Mrs. Lecount was talking to him. “You would like to catch me tripping in my ready-made science, and you wouldn’t object to drown me in the Professor’s Tank!”
“You villain with the brown eye and the green!” thought Mrs. Lecount, as the captain caught the ball of conversation in his turn; “thick as your skin is, I’ll sting you through it yet!”
In this frame of mind toward each other they talked fluently on general subjects, on public affairs, on local scenery, on society in England and society in Switzerland, on health, climate, books, marriage and money—talked, without a moment’s pause, without a single misunderstanding on either side for nearly an hour, before Magdalen and Noel Vanstone strayed that way and made the party of four complete again.
When they reached the inn at which the carriage was waiting for them, Captain Wragge left Mrs. Lecount in undisturbed possession of her master, and signed to Magdalen to drop back for a moment and speak to him.
“Well?” asked the captain, in a whisper, “is he fast to your apron-string?”
She shuddered123 from head to foot as she answered.
“He has kissed my hand,” she said. “Does that tell you enough? Don’t let him sit next me on the way home! I have borne all I can bear—spare me for the rest of the day.”
“I’ll put you on the front seat of the carriage,” replied the captain, “side by side with me.”
On the journey back Mrs. Lecount verified Captain Wragge’s prediction. She showed her claws.
The time could not have been better chosen; the circumstances could hardly have favored her more. Magdalen’s spirits were depressed124: she was weary in body and mind; and she sat exactly opposite the housekeeper, who had been compelled, by the new arrangement, to occupy the seat of honor next her master. With every facility for observing the slightest changes that passed over Magdalen’s face, Mrs. Lecount tried her first experiment by leading the conversation to the subject of London, and to the relative advantages offered to residents by the various quarters of the metropolis125 on both sides of the river. The ever-ready Wragge penetrated126 her intention sooner than she had anticipated, and interposed immediately. “You’re coming to Vauxhall Walk, ma’am,” thought the captain; “I’ll get there before you.”
He entered at once into a purely127 fictitious128 description of the various quarters of London in which he had himself resided; and, adroitly129 mentioning Vauxhall Walk as one of them, saved Magdalen from the sudden question relating to that very locality with which Mrs. Lecount had proposed startling her, to begin with. From his residences he passed smoothly130 to himself, and poured his whole family history (in the character of Mr. Bygrave) into the housekeeper’s ears—not forgetting his brother’s grave in Honduras, with the monument by the self-taught negro artist, and his brother’s hugely corpulent widow, on the ground-floor of the boarding-house at Cheltenham. As a means of giving Magdalen time to compose herself, this outburst of autobiographical information attained131 its object, but it answered no other purpose. Mrs. Lecount listened, without being imposed on by a single word the captain said to her. He merely confirmed her conviction of the hopelessness of taking Noel Vanstone into her confidence before she had facts to help her against Captain Wragge’s otherwise unassailable position in the identity which he had assumed. She quietly waited until he had done, and then returned to the charge.
“It is a coincidence that your uncle should have once resided in Vauxhall Walk,” she said, addressing herself to Magdalen. “Mr. Noel has a house in the same place, and we lived there before we came to Aldborough. May I inquire, Miss Bygrave, whether you know anything of a lady named Miss Garth?”
This time she put the question before the captain could interfere132. Magdalen ought to have been prepared for it by what had already passed in her presence, but her nerves had been shaken by the earlier events of the day; and she could only answer the question in the negative, after an instant’s preliminary pause to control herself. Her hesitation133 was of too momentary a nature to attract the attention of any unsuspicious person. But it lasted long enough to confirm Mrs. Lecount’s private convictions, and to encourage her to advance a little further.
“I only asked,” she continued, steadily134 fixing her eyes on Magdalen, steadily disregarding the efforts which Captain Wragge made to join in the conversation, “because Miss Garth is a stranger to me, and I am curious to find out what I can about her. The day before we left town, Miss Bygrave, a person who presented herself under the name I have mentioned paid us a visit under very extraordinary circumstances.”
With a smooth, ingratiating manner, with a refinement135 of contempt which was little less than devilish in its ingenious assumption of the language of pity, she now boldly described Magdalen’s appearance in disguise in Magdalen’s own presence. She slightingly referred to the master and mistress of Combe-Raven as persons who had always annoyed the elder and more respectable branch of the family; she mourned over the children as following their parents’ example, and attempting to take a mercenary advantage of Mr. Noel Vanstone, under the protection of a respectable person’s character and a respectable person’s name. Cleverly including her master in the conversation, so as to prevent the captain from effecting a diversion in that quarter; sparing no petty aggravation136; striking at every tender place which the tongue of a spiteful woman can wound, she would, beyond all doubt, have carried her point, and tortured Magdalen into openly betraying herself, if Captain Wragge had not checked her in full career by a loud exclamation137 of alarm, and a sudden clutch at Magdalen’s wrist.
“Ten thousand pardons, my dear madam!” cried the captain. “I see in my niece’s face, I feel in my niece’s pulse, that one of her violent neuralgic attacks has come on again. My dear girl, why hesitate among friends to confess that you are in pain? What mistimed politeness! Her face shows she is suffering—doesn’t it Mrs. Lecount? Darting138 pains, Mr. Vanstone, darting pains on the left side of the head. Pull down your veil, my dear, and lean on me. Our friends will excuse you; our excellent friends will excuse you for the rest of the day.”
Before Mrs. Lecount could throw an instant’s doubt on the genuineness of the neuralgic attack, her master’s fidgety sympathy declared itself exactly as the captain had anticipated, in the most active manifestations139. He stopped the carriage, and insisted on an immediate119 change in the arrangement of the places—the comfortable back seat for Miss Bygrave and her uncle, the front seat for Lecount and himself. Had Lecount got her smelling-bottle? Excellent creature! let her give it directly to Miss Bygrave, and let the coachman drive carefully. If the coachman shook Miss Bygrave he should not have a half-penny for himself. Mesmerism was frequently useful in these cases. Mr. Noel Vanstone’s father had been the most powerful mesmerist in Europe, and Mr. Noel Vanstone was his father’s son. Might he mesmerize140? Might he order that infernal coachman to draw up in a shady place adapted for the purpose? Would medical help be preferred? Could medical help be found any nearer than Aldborough? That ass17 of a coachman didn’t know. Stop every respectable man who passed in a gig, and ask him if he was a doctor! So Mr. Noel Vanstone ran on, with brief intervals141 for breathing-time, in a continually-ascending scale of sympathy and self-importance, throughout the drive home.
Mrs. Lecount accepted her defeat without uttering a word. From the moment when Captain Wragge interrupted her, her thin lips closed and opened no more for the remainder of the journey. The warmest expressions of her master’s anxiety for the suffering young lady provoked from her no outward manifestations of anger. She took as little notice of him as possible. She paid no attention whatever to the captain, whose exasperating142 consideration for his vanquished143 enemy made him more polite to her than ever. The nearer and the nearer they got to Aldborough the more and more fixedly144 Mrs. Lecount’s hard black eyes looked at Magdalen reclining on the opposite seat, with her eyes closed and her veil down.
It was only when the carriage stopped at North Shingles, and when Captain Wragge was handing Magdalen out, that the housekeeper at last condescended145 to notice him. As he smiled and took off his hat at the carriage door, the strong restraint she had laid on herself suddenly gave way, and she flashed one look at him which scorched146 up the captain’s politeness on the spot. He turned at once, with a hasty acknowledgment of Noel Vanstone’s last sympathetic inquiries, and took Magdalen into the house. “I told you she would show her claws,” he said. “It is not my fault that she scratched you before I could stop her. She hasn’t hurt you, has she?”
“She has hurt me, to some purpose,” said Magdalen—“she has given me the courage to go on. Say what must be done to-morrow, and trust me to do it.” She sighed heavily as she said those words, and went up to her room.
Captain Wragge walked meditatively147 into the parlor, and sat down to consider. He felt by no means so certain as he could have wished of the next proceeding11 on the part of the enemy after the defeat of that day. The housekeeper’s farewell look had plainly informed him that she was not at the end of her resources yet, and the old militia-man felt the full importance of preparing himself in good time to meet the next step which she took in advance. He lit a cigar, and bent148 his wary149 mind on the dangers of the future.
While Captain Wragge was considering in the parlor at North Shingles, Mrs. Lecount was meditating150 in her bedroom at Sea View. Her exasperation151 at the failure of her first attempt to expose the conspiracy had not blinded her to the instant necessity of making a second effort before Noel Vanstone’s growing infatuation got beyond her control. The snare89 set for Magdalen having failed, the chance of entrapping152 Magdalen’s sister was the next chance to try. Mrs. Lecount ordered a cup of tea, opened her writing-case, and began the rough draft of a letter to be sent to Miss Vanstone, the elder, by the morrow’s post.
So the day’s skirmish ended. The heat of the battle was yet to come.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
parlor
|
|
| n.店铺，营业室；会客室，客厅 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
spoke
|
|
| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
grudge
|
|
| n.不满，怨恨，妒嫉；vt.勉强给，不情愿做 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
prospect
|
|
| n.前景，前途；景色，视野 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
chamber
|
|
| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
inspection
|
|
| n.检查，审查，检阅 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
housekeeper
|
|
| n.管理家务的主妇，女管家 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
invalid
|
|
| n.病人，伤残人；adj.有病的，伤残的；无效的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
conspiracy
|
|
| n.阴谋，密谋，共谋 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
investigation
|
|
| n.调查，调查研究 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
proceeding
|
|
| n.行动，进行，(pl.)会议录，学报 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
proceedings
|
|
| n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
admiration
|
|
| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
glorification
|
|
| n.赞颂 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
inquiries
|
|
| n.调查( inquiry的名词复数 )；疑问；探究；打听 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
dwelling
|
|
| n.住宅，住所，寓所 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
ass
|
|
| n.驴；傻瓜，蠢笨的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
exhausted
|
|
| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
hospitable
|
|
| adj.好客的；宽容的；有利的，适宜的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
flaunting
|
|
| adj.招摇的，扬扬得意的，夸耀的v.炫耀，夸耀( flaunt的现在分词 )；有什么能耐就施展出来 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
feverish
|
|
| adj.发烧的，狂热的，兴奋的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
scoffed
|
|
| 嘲笑，嘲弄( scoff的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
mimicked
|
|
| v.（尤指为了逗乐而）模仿( mimic的过去式和过去分词 )；酷似 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
enjoyment
|
|
| n.乐趣；享有；享用 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
ridicule
|
|
| v.讥讽，挖苦；n.嘲弄 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
pebbles
|
|
| [复数]鹅卵石； 沙砾； 卵石，小圆石( pebble的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
omens
|
|
| n.前兆，预兆( omen的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
nautical
|
|
| adj.海上的，航海的，船员的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
brewing
|
|
| n. 酿造, 一次酿造的量 动词brew的现在分词形式 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
habitual
|
|
| adj.习惯性的；通常的，惯常的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
penetration
|
|
| n.穿透，穿人，渗透 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
artifice
|
|
| n.妙计，高明的手段；狡诈，诡计 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
ascertain
|
|
| vt.发现，确定，查明，弄清 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
lure
|
|
| n.吸引人的东西，诱惑物；vt.引诱，吸引 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
confession
|
|
| n.自白，供认，承认 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
aquarium
|
|
| n.水族馆，养鱼池，玻璃缸 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
intercourse
|
|
| n.性交；交流，交往，交际 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
implicitly
|
|
| adv. 含蓄地, 暗中地, 毫不保留地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
folly
|
|
| n.愚笨，愚蠢，蠢事，蠢行，傻话 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
motive
|
|
| n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
motives
|
|
| n.动机，目的( motive的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
longing
|
|
| n.（for）渴望 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
positively
|
|
| adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
determined
|
|
| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
intimacy
|
|
| n.熟悉，亲密，密切关系，亲昵的言行 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
solitude
|
|
| n. 孤独; 独居,荒僻之地,幽静的地方 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
vaguely
|
|
| adv.含糊地，暖昧地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
entirely
|
|
| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
seclusion
|
|
| n.隐遁，隔离 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
ply
|
|
| v.(搬运工等)等候顾客，弯曲 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
unintelligible
|
|
| adj.无法了解的，难解的，莫明其妙的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
52
intelligible
|
|
| adj.可理解的，明白易懂的，清楚的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
53
malady
|
|
| n.病，疾病(通常做比喻) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
54
secluded
|
|
| adj.与世隔绝的；隐退的；偏僻的v.使隔开，使隐退( seclude的过去式和过去分词) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
55
cultivation
|
|
| n.耕作，培养，栽培（法），养成 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
56
audacity
|
|
| n.大胆，卤莽，无礼 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
57
inexplicable
|
|
| adj.无法解释的，难理解的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
58
perversity
|
|
| n.任性；刚愎自用 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
59
veered
|
|
| v.（尤指交通工具）改变方向或路线( veer的过去式和过去分词 )；（指谈话内容、人的行为或观点）突然改变；（指风） （在北半球按顺时针方向、在南半球按逆时针方向）逐渐转向；风向顺时针转 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
60
inflamed
|
|
| adj.发炎的，红肿的v.（使）变红，发怒，过热( inflame的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
61
anonymous
|
|
| adj.无名的；匿名的；无特色的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
62
preposterously
|
|
| adv.反常地；荒谬地；荒谬可笑地；不合理地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
63
mere
|
|
| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
64
momentary
|
|
| adj.片刻的，瞬息的；短暂的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
65
scattered
|
|
| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
66
agitation
|
|
| n.搅动；搅拌；鼓动，煽动 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
67
kindled
|
|
| （使某物）燃烧，着火( kindle的过去式和过去分词 )； 激起（感情等）； 发亮，放光 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
68
incapable
|
|
| adj.无能力的，不能做某事的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
69
sufficiently
|
|
| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
70
graceful
|
|
| adj.优美的，优雅的；得体的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
71
undue
|
|
| adj.过分的；不适当的；未到期的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
72
inevitable
|
|
| adj.不可避免的，必然发生的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
73
fixed
|
|
| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
74
justify
|
|
| vt.证明…正当(或有理)，为…辩护 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
75
candidly
|
|
| adv.坦率地，直率而诚恳地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
76
defense
|
|
| n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
77
deception
|
|
| n.欺骗，欺诈；骗局，诡计 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
78
impudent
|
|
| adj.鲁莽的，卑鄙的，厚颜无耻的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
79
villain
|
|
| n.反派演员，反面人物；恶棍；问题的起因 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
80
rascal
|
|
| n.流氓；不诚实的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
81
decided
|
|
| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
82
standing
|
|
| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
83
permanently
|
|
| adv.永恒地，永久地，固定不变地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
84
entrap
|
|
| v.以网或陷阱捕捉，使陷入圈套 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
85
peculiarities
|
|
| n. 特质, 特性, 怪癖, 古怪 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
86
penetrate
|
|
| v.透(渗)入；刺入，刺穿；洞察，了解 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
87
defective
|
|
| adj.有毛病的，有问题的，有瑕疵的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
88
enumerated
|
|
| v.列举，枚举，数( enumerate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
89
snare
|
|
| n.陷阱，诱惑，圈套；（去除息肉或者肿瘤的）勒除器；响弦，小军鼓；vt.以陷阱捕获，诱惑 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
90
snares
|
|
| n.陷阱( snare的名词复数 )；圈套；诱人遭受失败（丢脸、损失等）的东西；诱惑物v.用罗网捕捉，诱陷，陷害( snare的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
91
kindly
|
|
| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
92
propriety
|
|
| n.正当行为；正当；适当 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
93
humble
|
|
| adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
94
jocosely
|
|
| adv.说玩笑地，诙谐地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
|
95
winked
|
|
| v.使眼色( wink的过去式和过去分词 )；递眼色（表示友好或高兴等）；（指光）闪烁；闪亮 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
96
varied
|
|
| adj.多样的，多变化的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
97
practitioner
|
|
| n.实践者，从事者；(医生或律师等)开业者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
98
smack
|
|
| vt.拍，打，掴；咂嘴；vi.含有…意味；n.拍 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
99
accustom
|
|
| vt.使适应，使习惯 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
100
bowling
|
|
| n.保龄球运动 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
101
virtuous
|
|
| adj.有品德的，善良的，贞洁的，有效力的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
102
secondly
|
|
| adv.第二，其次 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
103
fascinations
|
|
| n.魅力( fascination的名词复数 )；有魅力的东西；迷恋；陶醉 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
104
miserable
|
|
| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
105
wretch
|
|
| n.可怜的人，不幸的人；卑鄙的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
106
apron
|
|
| n.围裙；工作裙 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
107
shingles
|
|
| n.带状疱疹；（布满海边的）小圆石( shingle的名词复数 )；屋顶板；木瓦（板）；墙面板 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
108
concessions
|
|
| n.（尤指由政府或雇主给予的）特许权( concession的名词复数 )；承认；减价；（在某地的）特许经营权 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
109
smirked
|
|
| v.傻笑( smirk的过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
110
attentive
|
|
| adj.注意的，专心的；关心(别人)的，殷勤的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
111
meekly
|
|
| adv.温顺地，逆来顺受地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
112
exclusion
|
|
| n.拒绝，排除，排斥，远足，远途旅行 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
113
elegance
|
|
| n.优雅；优美，雅致；精致，巧妙 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
114
perfectly
|
|
| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
115
fortified
|
|
| adj. 加强的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
116
relic
|
|
| n.神圣的遗物，遗迹，纪念物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
117
populous
|
|
| adj.人口稠密的，人口众多的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
118
maneuvered
|
|
| v.移动，用策略( maneuver的过去式和过去分词 )；操纵 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
119
immediate
|
|
| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
120
consummate
|
|
| adj.完美的；v.成婚；使完美 [反]baffle | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
121
dexterity
|
|
| n.(手的)灵巧，灵活 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
122
amiability
|
|
| n.和蔼可亲的，亲切的，友善的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
123
shuddered
|
|
| v.战栗( shudder的过去式和过去分词 )；发抖；（机器、车辆等）突然震动；颤动 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
124
depressed
|
|
| adj.沮丧的，抑郁的，不景气的，萧条的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
125
metropolis
|
|
| n.首府；大城市 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
126
penetrated
|
|
| adj. 击穿的，鞭辟入里的 动词penetrate的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
127
purely
|
|
| adv.纯粹地，完全地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
128
fictitious
|
|
| adj.虚构的，假设的；空头的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
129
adroitly
|
|
| adv.熟练地，敏捷地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
130
smoothly
|
|
| adv.平滑地，顺利地，流利地，流畅地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
131
attained
|
|
| （通常经过努力）实现( attain的过去式和过去分词 )； 达到； 获得； 达到（某年龄、水平、状况） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
132
interfere
|
|
| v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
133
hesitation
|
|
| n.犹豫，踌躇 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
134
steadily
|
|
| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
135
refinement
|
|
| n.文雅；高尚；精美；精制；精炼 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
136
aggravation
|
|
| n.烦恼，恼火 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
137
exclamation
|
|
| n.感叹号，惊呼，惊叹词 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
138
darting
|
|
| v.投掷，投射( dart的现在分词 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
139
manifestations
|
|
| n.表示，显示（manifestation的复数形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
140
mesmerize
|
|
| vt.施催眠术；使入迷，迷住 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
141
intervals
|
|
| n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
142
exasperating
|
|
| adj. 激怒的 动词exasperate的现在分词形式 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
143
vanquished
|
|
| v.征服( vanquish的过去式和过去分词 )；战胜；克服；抑制 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
144
fixedly
|
|
| adv.固定地；不屈地，坚定不移地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
145
condescended
|
|
| 屈尊，俯就( condescend的过去式和过去分词 )； 故意表示和蔼可亲 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
146
scorched
|
|
| 烧焦，烤焦( scorch的过去式和过去分词 )； 使（植物）枯萎，把…晒枯； 高速行驶； 枯焦 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
147
meditatively
|
|
| adv.冥想地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
148
bent
|
|
| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
149
wary
|
|
| adj.谨慎的，机警的，小心的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
150
meditating
|
|
| a.沉思的，冥想的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
151
exasperation
|
|
| n.愤慨 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
152
entrapping
|
|
| v.使陷入圈套，使入陷阱( entrap的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |