"What I have to say next," answered Sergeant Cuff, "relates to Rosanna

Spearman. I recognised the young woman, as your ladyship may remember,

when she brought the washing-book into this room. Up to that time I was

inclined to doubt whether Miss Verinder had trusted her secret to any

one. When I saw Rosanna, I altered my mind. I suspected her at once of

being privy to the suppression of the Diamond. The poor creature has met

her death by a dreadful end, and I don't want your ladyship to think,

now she's gone, that I was unduly hard on her. If this had been a common

case of thieving, I should have given Rosanna the benefit of the doubt

just as freely as I should have given it to any of the other servants in

Advertisement..

the house. Our experience of the Reformatory woman is, that when

tried in service--and when kindly and judiciously treated--they prove

themselves in the majority of cases to be honestly penitent, and

honestly worthy of the pains taken with them. But this was not a common

case of thieving. It was a case--in my mind--of a deeply planned fraud,

with the owner of the Diamond at the bottom of it. Holding this view,

the first consideration which naturally presented itself to me, in

connection with Rosanna, was this: Would Miss Verinder be satisfied

(begging your ladyship's pardon) with leading us all to think that the

Moonstone was merely lost? Or would she go a step further, and delude us

into believing that the Moonstone was stolen? In the latter event there

was Rosanna Spearman--with the character of a thief--ready to her hand;

the person of all others to lead your ladyship off, and to lead me off,

on a false scent."

Was it possible (I asked myself) that he could put his case against

Miss Rachel and Rosanna in a more horrid point of view than this? It WAS

possible, as you shall now see.

"I had another reason for suspecting the deceased woman," he said,

"which appears to me to have been stronger still. Who would be the very

person to help Miss Verinder in raising money privately on the Diamond?

Rosanna Spearman. No young lady in Miss Verinder's position could manage

such a risky matter as that by herself. A go-between she must have, and

who so fit, I ask again, as Rosanna Spearman? Your ladyship's deceased

housemaid was at the top of her profession when she was a thief. She had

relations, to my certain knowledge, with one of the few men in London

(in the money-lending line) who would advance a large sum on such a

notable jewel as the Moonstone, without asking awkward questions, or

insisting on awkward conditions. Bear this in mind, my lady; and now let

me show you how my suspicions have been justified by Rosanna's own acts,

and by the plain inferences to be drawn from them."




Most Popular