"Suppose we now revert to the difficulty which we have not conquered yet," said the captain. "Let us say that I do violence to my own habits and feelings; that I allow the considerations I have already mentioned to weigh with me; and that I sanction your wish to be united to my niece without the knowledge of Mrs. Lecount. Allow me to inquire in that case what means you can suggest for the accomplishment of your end?""I can't suggest anything," replied Noel Vanstone, helplessly. "Would you object to suggest for me?""You are making a bolder request than you think, Mr. Vanstone. I never do things by halves. When I am acting with my customary candor, I am frank (as you know already) to the utmost verge of imprudence. When exceptional circumstances compel me to take an opposite course, there isn't a slyer fox alive than I am. If, at your express request, I take off my honest English coat here and put on a Jesuit's gown--if, purely out of sympathy for your awkward position, I consent to keep your secret for you from Mrs. Lecount--I must have no unseasonable scruples to contend with on your part. If it is neck or nothing on my side, sir, it must be neck or nothing on yours also.""Neck or nothing, by all means," said Noel Vanstone, briskly--"on the understanding that you go first. I have no scruples about keeping Lecount in the dark. But she is devilish cunning, Mr. Bygrave. How is it to be done?""You shall hear directly," replied the captain. "Before I develop my views, I should like to have your opinion on an abstract question of morality. What do you think, my dear sir, of pious frauds in general?"Noel Vanstone looked a little embarrassed by the question.
"Shall I put it more plainly?" continued Captain Wragge. "What do you say to the uni versally-accepted maxim that 'all stratagems are fair in love and war'?--Yes or No?""Yes!" answered Noel Vanstone, with the utmost readiness.
"One more question and I have done," said the captain. "Do you see any particular objection to practicing a pious fraud on Mrs. Lecount?"Noel Vanstone's resolution began to falter a little.
"Is Lecount likely to find it out?" he asked cautiously.
"She can't possibly discover it until you are married and out of her reach.""You are sure of that?"
"Quite sure."
"Play any trick you like on Lecount," said Noel Vanstone, with an air of unutterable relief. "I have had my suspicions lately that she is trying to domineer over me; I am beginning to feel that I have borne with Lecount long enough. I wish I was well rid of her.""You shall have your wish," said Captain Wragge. "You shall be rid of her in a week or ten days."Noel Vanstone rose eagerly and approached the captain's chair.
"You don't say so!" he exclaimed. "How do you mean to send her away?""I mean to send her on a journey," replied Captain Wragge.
"Where?"
"From your house at Aldborough to her brother's bedside at Zurich."Noel Vanstone started back at the answer, and returned suddenly to his chair.
"How can you do that?" he inquired, in the greatest perplexity. "Her brother (hang him!) is much better. She had another letter from Zurich to say so, this morning.""Did you see the letter?"
"Yes. She always worries about her brother--she would show it to me.""Who was it from? and what did it say?"
"It was from the doctor--he always writes to her. I don't care two straws about her brother, and I don't remember much of the letter, except that it was a short one. The fellow was much better; and if the doctor didn't write again, she might take it for granted that he was getting well. That was the substance of it.""Did you notice where she put the letter when you gave it her back again?""Yes. She put it in the drawer where she keeps her account-books.""Can you get at that drawer?"
"Of course I can. I have got a duplicate key--I always insist on a duplicate key of the place where she keeps her account books. I never allow the account-books to be locked up from my inspection: it's a rule of the house.""Be so good as to get that letter to-day, Mr. Vanstone, without your housekeeper's knowledge, and add to the favor by letting me have it here privately for an hour or two.""What do you want it for?"
"I have some more questions to ask before I tell you. Have you any intimate friend at Zurich whom you could trust to help you in playing a trick on Mrs. Lecount?""What sort of help do you mean?" asked Noel Vanstone.
"Suppose," said the captain, "you were to send a letter addressed to Mrs. Lecount at Aldborough, inclosed in another letter addressed to one of your friends abroad? And suppose you were to instruct that friend to help a harmless practical joke by posting Mrs. Lecount's letter at Zurich? Do you know any one who could be trusted to do that?""I know two people who could be trusted!" cried Noel Vanstone. "Both ladies--both spinsters--both bitter enemies of Lecount's. But what is your drift, Mr. Bygrave? Though I am not usually wanting in penetration, I don't altogether see your drift.""You shall see it directly, Mr. Vanstone."With those words he rose, withdrew to his desk in the corner of the room, and wrote a few lines on a sheet of note-paper. After first reading them carefully to himself, he beckoned to Noel Vanstone to come and read them too.
"A few minutes since," said the captain, pointing complacently to his own composition with the feather end of his pen, "I had the honor of suggesting a pious fraud on Mrs. Lecount. There it is!"He resigned his chair at the writing-table to his visitor. Noel Vanstone sat down, and read these lines: