“There is the letter that might have ruined us if it had ever reached its address,” he said. “Read it carefully. I have a question to ask you when you have done.”
Magdalen read the letter. “What is this proof,” she inquired, “which Mrs. Lecount relies on so confidently!”
“The very question I was going to ask you,” said Captain Wragge. “Consult your memory of what happened when you tried that experiment in Vauxhall Walk. Did Mrs. Lecount get no other chance against you than the chances you have told me of already?”
“She discovered that my face was disguised, and she heard me speak in my own voice.”
“And nothing more?”
“Nothing more.”
“Very good. Then my interpretation of the letter is clearly the right one. The proof Mrs. Lecount relies on is my wife’s infernal ghost story—which is, in plain English, the story of Miss Bygrave having been seen in Miss Vanstone’s disguise; the witness being the very person who is afterward presented at Aldborough in the character of Miss Bygrave’s aunt. An excellent chance for Mrs. Lecount, if she can only lay her hand at the right time on Mrs. Wragge, and no chance at all, if she can’t. Make your mind easy on that point. Mrs. Lecount and my wife have seen the last of each other. In the meantime, don’t neglect the warning I give you, in giving you this letter. Tear it up, for fear of accidents, but don’t forget it.”
“Trust me to remember it,” replied Magdalen, destroying the letter while she spoke. “Have you anything more to tell me?”
“I have some information to give you,” said Captain Wragge, “which may be useful, because it relates to your future security. Mind, I want to know nothing about your proceedings when to-morrow is over; we settled that when we first discussed this matter. I ask no questions, and I make no guesses. All I want to do now is to warn you of your legal position after your marriage, and to leave you to make what use you please of your knowledge, at your own sole discretion. I took a lawyer’s opinion on the point when I was in London, thinking it might be useful to you.”
“It is sure to be useful. What did the lawyer say?”