He arranged that Noel should visit Admiral Bartram, leaving Mrs. Lecount behind to pack up.  From Admiral Bartram’s he was to proceed to London, where he would be duly united to Magdalen.  In order to secure the non-interference of Mrs. Lecount, the captain sent her a forged letter, summoning her at once to the death-bed of her brother at Zurich.  But Mrs. Lecount was not so easily disposed of as Captain Wragge had imagined.

As soon as her master departed for Admiral Bartram’s she took the opportunity, when both Magdalen and the captain were out, to visit their house.  Readily persuading the simple-minded Mrs. Wragge, who had a passion for clothes, to show her Magdalen’s wardrobe, she discovered there the skirt from which she had cut a piece on the occasion of the girl’s visit in the character of Miss Garth.

She was detected by Captain Wragge leaving the house, but, careless of what the latter might think, she returned home in triumph.  There she found the letter summoning her to Zurich.  There was no time to be lost; she had to go.  But before she set out she wrote a letter to Noel Vanstone, disclosing the whole facts of the conspiracy.

Captain Wragge, positive in his own mind that Mrs. Lecount had discovered everything, would have consulted Magdalen, but the girl was in a condition which prevented her from taking any active part in the affair.  She wandered about Aldborough with a settled despair written clearly on the beautiful features of her face.  Her woe-begone appearance attracted the attention of a certain Captain Kirke, and he carried away with him on his ship the indelible memory of her beauty.

Captain Wragge had to depend solely on his own exertions.  Waiting till the housekeeper had left Aldborough, he discovered, by inquiries at the post-office, that Mrs. Lecount had written to Noel Vanstone.  That letter must be stopped at all costs, and the captain acted boldly.  The day was Saturday.  Obtaining a special licence, he hurried off to Admiral Bartram’s, before Mrs. Lecount’s letter was delivered, and induced Noel Vanstone to accompany him to London.  At the same time he left behind him several envelopes, addressed to “Captain Wragge,” under cover of which Admiral Bartram was to forward all correspondence which might arrive after his departure.  By this means, Mrs. Lecount’s letter was prevented from coming into the hands of her master, and two days later Magdalen duly became the wife of Noel Vanstone.

Twelve weeks later, Noel Vanstone walked moodily about the garden of a cottage he had taken in the Highlands.  That morning Magdalen, without even asking his permission, had set out for London to see her sister, and her husband, his health greatly enfeebled, was left alone, weak and miserable.  He had a habit of mourning over himself, and as he rested, looking over a fence, he sighed bitterly.

“You were happier with me,” said a voice at his side.

He turned with a scream to see Mrs. Lecount.  She told him how his wife was Magdalen Vanstone, how she had married him simply from a desire to recover the fortune of which she had been robbed by Michael Vanstone, also suggesting that Magdalen intended to attempt his life.