With those words he turned away from me, and began walking irritably up

and down the room.

I could see plainly that the new light I had thrown on the subject had

greatly surprised and disturbed him. Certain expressions dropped from

his lips, as he became more and more absorbed in his own thoughts, which

suggested to my mind the abominable view that he had hitherto taken of

the mystery of the lost Moonstone. He had not scrupled to suspect dear

Mr. Godfrey of the infamy of stealing the Diamond, and to attribute

Rachel's conduct to a generous resolution to conceal the crime. On Miss

Verinder's own authority--a perfectly unassailable authority, as you

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are aware, in the estimation of Mr. Bruff--that explanation of the

circumstances was now shown to be utterly wrong. The perplexity into

which I had plunged this high legal authority was so overwhelming that

he was quite unable to conceal it from notice. "What a case!" I heard

him say to himself, stopping at the window in his walk, and drumming on

the glass with his fingers. "It not only defies explanation, it's even

beyond conjecture."

There was nothing in these words which made any reply at all needful,

on my part--and yet, I answered them! It seems hardly credible that I

should not have been able to let Mr. Bruff alone, even now. It seems

almost beyond mere mortal perversity that I should have discovered, in

what he had just said, a new opportunity of making myself personally

disagreeable to him. But--ah, my friends! nothing is beyond mortal

perversity; and anything is credible when our fallen natures get the

better of us!

"Pardon me for intruding on your reflections," I said to the

unsuspecting Mr. Bruff. "But surely there is a conjecture to make which

has not occurred to us yet."

"Maybe, Miss Clack. I own I don't know what it is."

"Before I was so fortunate, sir, as to convince you of Mr. Ablewhite's

innocence, you mentioned it as one of the reasons for suspecting him,

that he was in the house at the time when the Diamond was lost. Permit

me to remind you that Mr. Franklin Blake was also in the house at the

time when the Diamond was lost."

The old worldling left the window, took a chair exactly opposite to mine,

and looked at me steadily, with a hard and vicious smile.

"You are not so good a lawyer, Miss Clack," he remarked in a meditative

manner, "as I supposed. You don't know how to let well alone."

"I am afraid I fail to follow you, Mr. Bruff," I said, modestly.

"It won't do, Miss Clack--it really won't do a second time. Franklin

Blake is a prime favourite of mine, as you are well aware. But that

doesn't matter. I'll adopt your view, on this occasion, before you have

time to turn round on me. You're quite right, ma'am. I have suspected

Mr. Ablewhite, on grounds which abstractedly justify suspecting Mr.

Blake too. Very good--let's suspect them together. It's quite in his

character, we will say, to be capable of stealing the Moonstone. The

only question is, whether it was his interest to do so."




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