My mistress signed to him that she would do this. The Sergeant went on: "For the last twenty years," he said, "I have been largely employed in

cases of family scandal, acting in the capacity of confidential man. The

one result of my domestic practice which has any bearing on the matter

now in hand, is a result which I may state in two words. It is well

within my experience, that young ladies of rank and position do

occasionally have private debts which they dare not acknowledge to their

nearest relatives and friends. Sometimes, the milliner and the jeweller

are at the bottom of it. Sometimes, the money is wanted for purposes

which I don't suspect in this case, and which I won't shock you by

mentioning. Bear in mind what I have said, my lady--and now let us

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see how events in this house have forced me back on my own experience,

whether I liked it or not!"

He considered with himself for a moment, and went on--with a horrid

clearness that obliged you to understand him; with an abominable justice

that favoured nobody.

"My first information relating to the loss of the Moonstone," said the

Sergeant, "came to me from Superintendent Seegrave. He proved to my

complete satisfaction that he was perfectly incapable of managing the

case. The one thing he said which struck me as worth listening to, was

this--that Miss Verinder had declined to be questioned by him, and had

spoken to him with a perfectly incomprehensible rudeness and contempt.

I thought this curious--but I attributed it mainly to some clumsiness

on the Superintendent's part which might have offended the young lady.

After that, I put it by in my mind, and applied myself, single-handed,

to the case. It ended, as you are aware, in the discovery of the smear

on the door, and in Mr. Franklin Blake's evidence satisfying me, that

this same smear, and the loss of the Diamond, were pieces of the same

puzzle. So far, if I suspected anything, I suspected that the Moonstone

had been stolen, and that one of the servants might prove to be the

thief. Very good. In this state of things, what happens? Miss Verinder

suddenly comes out of her room, and speaks to me. I observe three

suspicious appearances in that young lady. She is still violently

agitated, though more than four-and-twenty hours have passed since

the Diamond was lost. She treats me as she has already treated

Superintendent Seegrave. And she is mortally offended with Mr. Franklin

Blake. Very good again. Here (I say to myself) is a young lady who

has lost a valuable jewel--a young lady, also, as my own eyes and

ears inform me, who is of an impetuous temperament. Under these

circumstances, and with that character, what does she do? She betrays an

incomprehensible resentment against Mr. Blake, Mr. Superintendent,

and myself--otherwise, the very three people who have all, in their

different ways, been trying to help her to recover her lost jewel.

Having brought my inquiry to that point--THEN, my lady, and not till

then, I begin to look back into my own mind for my own experience.

My own experience explains Miss Verinder's otherwise incomprehensible

conduct. It associates her with those other young ladies that I know of.

It tells me she has debts she daren't acknowledge, that must be paid.

And it sets me asking myself, whether the loss of the Diamond may not

mean--that the Diamond must be secretly pledged to pay them. That is the

conclusion which my experience draws from plain facts. What does your

ladyship's experience say against it?"




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