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 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?'
`What I have said already,' answered my mistress.`The circumstances have misled you.'
I said nothing on my side.Robinson Crusoe -- God knows how --had got into my muddled old head.If Sergeant Cuff had found himself, at that moment, transported to a desert island, without a man Friday to keep him company, or a ship to take him off--he would have found himself exactly where I wished him to be! ( Nota bene :--I am an average good Christian, when you don't push my Christianity too far.And all the rest of you--which is a great comfort--are, in this respect, much the same as I am.)Sergeant Cuff went on:
`Right or wrong, my lady,' he said, `having drawn my conclusion, the next thing to do was to put it to the test.I suggested to your ladyship the examination of all the wardrobes in the house.It was a means of finding the article of dress which had, in all probability, made the smear; and it was a means of putting my conclusion to the test.How did it turn out?
Your ladyship consented; Mr.Blake consented; Mr.Ablewhite consented.
Miss Verinder alone stopped the whole proceedings by refusing point-blank.
That result satisfied me that my view was the right one.If your ladyship and Mr.Betteredge persist in not agreeing with me, you must be blind to what happened before you this very day.In your hearing, I told the young lady that her leaving the house (as things were then) would put an obstacle in the way of my recovering her jewel.You saw yourselves that she drove off in the face of that statement.You saw yourselves that, so far from forgiving Mr.Blake for having done more than all the rest of you to put the clue into my hands, she publicly insulted Mr.Blake, on the steps of her mother's house.What do these things mean? If Miss Verinder is not privy to the suppression of the Diamond, what do these things mean?'
This time he looked my way.It was downright frightful to hear him piling up proof after proof against Miss Rachel, and to know, while one was longing to defend her, that there was no disputing the truth of what he said.Iam (thank God!) constitutionally superior to reason.This enabled me to hold firm to my lady's view, which was my view also.This roused my spirit, and made me put a bold face on it before Sergeant Cuff.Profit, good friends, I beseech you, by my example.It will save you from many troubles of the vexing sort.Cultivate a superiority to reason, and see how you pare the claws of all the sensible people when they try to scratch you for your own good!
Finding that I made no remark, and that my mistress made no remark, Sergeant Cuff proceeded.Lord! how it did enrage me to notice that he was not in the least put out by our silence!
`There is the case, my lady, as it stands against Miss Verinder alone,'
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