The Story Continued by Marian Halcombe

towards the second turning, by a fly from the railway. I made a sign to the driver to stop. As he obeyed me a respectable-looking man put his head out of the window to see what was the matter. “I beg your pardon,” I said, “but am I right in supposing that you are going to Blackwater Park?” “Yes, ma’am.” “With a letter for anyone?” “With a letter for Miss Halcombe, ma’am.” “You may give me the letter. I am Miss Halcombe.” The man touched his hat, got out of the fly immediately, and gave me the letter. I opened it at once and read these lines. I copy them here, thinking it best to destroy the original for caution’s sake. I read this kind and sensible letter very thankfully. It supplied Laura with a reason for objecting to the signature which was unanswerable, and which we could both of us understand. The messenger waited near me while I was reading to receive his directions when I had done. “Will you be good enough to say that I understand the letter, and that I am very much obliged?” I said. “There is no other reply necessary at present.” Exactly at the moment when I was speaking those words, holding the letter open in my hand, Count Fosco turned the corner of the lane from the high road, and stood before me as if he had sprung up out of the earth.