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
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?"