ed under these circumstances, then followed. It
omitted no personal peculiarity by which Magdalen could be recognized,
and it included the "two little moles close together on the left side
of the neck," which had been formerly mentioned in the printed handbills
sent to York.

In conclusion, Miss Garth expressed her fears that Mrs. Lecount's
suspicions were only too likely to be proved true. While, however,
there was the faintest chance that the conspiracy might turn out to be
directed by a stranger, Miss Garth felt bound, in gratitude toward Mr.
Noel Vanstone, to assist the legal proceedings which would in that case
be instituted. She accordingly appended her own formal denial--which she
would personally repeat if necessary--of any identity between herself
and the person in disguise who had made use of her name. She was
the Miss Garth who had filled the situation of the late Mr. Andrew
Vanstone's governess, and she had never in her life been in, or near,
the neighborhood of Vauxhall Wall.

With this disclaimer, and with the writer's fervent assurances that she
would do all for Magdalen's advantage which her sister might have done
if her sister had been in England, the letter concluded. It was signed
in full, and was dated with the business-like accuracy in such matters
which had always distinguished Miss Garth's character.

This letter placed a formidable weapon in the housekeeper's hands.

It provided a means of establishing Magdalen's identity through
the intervention of a lawyer by profession. It contained a personal
description minute enough to be used to advantage, if necessary, before
Mr. Pendril's appearance. It presented a signed exposure of the false
Miss Garth under the hand of the true Miss Garth; and it established the
fact that the last letter received by the elder Miss Vanstone from
the younger had been posted (and therefore probably written) in the
neighborhood of Vauxhall Walk. If any later letter had been received
with the Aldborough postmark, the chain of evidence, so far as the
question of localities was concerned, might doubtless have been more
complete. But as it was, there was testimony enough (aided as that
testimony might be by the fragment of the brown alpaca dress still
in Mrs. Lecount's possession) to raise the veil which hung over the
conspiracy, and to place Mr. Noel Vanstone face to face with the plain
and startling truth.

The one obstacle which now stood in the way of immediate act