THE MOONSTONE

BY THE AUTHOR OF "THE  WOMAN IN WHITE," &c. &c.

CHAPTER XIII.

I FOUND my lady in her own sitting-room.
She started, and looked annoyed, when I
mentioned that Sergeant Cuff wished to speak to
her.

"Must I see him?" she asked. "Can't you
represent me, Gabriel?"

I felt at a loss to understand this, and showed
it plainly, I suppose, in my face. My lady was
so good as to explain herself.

"I am afraid my nerves are a little shaken,"
she said. "There is something in that police-
officer from London which I recoil from—I
don't know why. I have a presentiment that
he is bringing trouble and misery with him into
the house. Very foolish, and very unlike me;
but so it is."

I hardly knew what to say to this. The more
/ saw of Sergeant Cuff, the better I liked him.
My lady rallied a little after having opened her
heart to me—being, naturally, a woman of a
high courage, as I have already told you.

"If I must see him, I must," she said;
"but I can't prevail on myself to see him alone.
Bring him in, Gabriel, and stay here as long as
he stays."

This was the first attack of the megrims that
I remembered in my mistress since the time
when she was a young girl. I went back to
the "boudoir." Mr. Franklin strolled out into
the garden, and joined Mr. Godfrey, whose time
for departure was now drawing near. Sergeant
Cuff and I went straight to my mistress's room.

I declare my lady turned a shade paler at the
sight of him! She commanded herself,
however, in other respects, and asked the Sergeant
if he had any objection to my being present.
She was so good as to add, that I was her
trusted adviser, as well as her old servant, and
that in anything which related to the household I
was the person whom it might be most profitable
to consult. The Sergeant politely answered
that he would take my presence as a favour,
having something to say about the servants in
general, and having found my experience in
that quarter already of some use to him. My
lady pointed to two chairs, and we set in for
our conference immediately.

"I have already formed an opinion on this
case," says Sergeant Cuff, "which I beg your
ladyship's permission to keep to myself for the
present. My business now is to mention what
I have discovered upstairs in Miss Verinder's
sitting-room, and what I have decided (with
your ladyship's leave) on doing next."

He then went into the matter of the smear on
the paint, and stated the conclusions he drew
from it—just as he had stated them (only with
greater respect of language) to Superintendent
Seegrave. "One thing," he said, in conclusion,
"is certain. The Diamond is missing out of the
drawer in the cabinet. Another thing is next to
certain. The marks from the smear on the door
must be on some article of dress belonging to
somebody in this house. We must discover that
article of dress before we go a step further."

"That discovery," remarked my mistress,
"implies, I presume, the discovery of the
thief?"

"I beg your ladyship's pardon—I don't say
the Diamond is stolen. I only say, at present,
that the Diamond is missing. The discovery of
the stained dress may lead the way to finding
it."

Her ladyship looked at me. "Do you
understand this?" she said.

"Sergeant Cuff understands it, my lady," I
answered.

"How do you propose to discover the stained
dress?" inquired my mistress, addressing herself
once more to the Sergeant. "My good
servants, who have been with me for years, have,
I am ashamed to say, had their boxes and
rooms searched already by the other officer. I
can't and won't permit them to be insulted in
that way a second time!"

(There was a mistress to serve! There
was a woman in ten thousand, if you like!)

"That is the very point I was about to put
to your ladyship," said the Sergeant. "The
other officer has done a world of harm to this
inquiry, by letting the servants see that he
suspected them. If I give them cause to think
themselves suspected a second time, there's no
knowing what obstacles they may not throw in
my way—the women especially. At the same
time, their boxes must be searched again—for
this plain reason, that the first investigation
only looked for the Diamond, and that the
second investigation must look for the stained
dress. I quite agree with you, my lady, that