He thereupon passed the whole of Rosanna's proceedings under review. You
are already as well acquainted with those proceedings as I am; and you
will understand how unanswerably this part of his report fixed the guilt
of being concerned in the disappearance of the Moonstone on the memory
of the poor dead girl. Even my mistress was daunted by what he said now.
She made him no answer when he had done. It didn't seem to matter to the
Sergeant whether he was answered or not. On he went (devil take him!),
just as steady as ever.
"Having stated the whole case as I understand it," he said, "I have only
to tell your ladyship, now, what I propose to do next. I see two ways of
bringing this inquiry successfully to an end. One of those ways I look
upon as a certainty. The other, I admit, is a bold experiment, and
nothing more. Your ladyship shall decide. Shall we take the certainty
first?"
My mistress made him a sign to take his own way, and choose for himself.
"Thank you," said the Sergeant. "We'll begin with the certainty, as your
ladyship is so good as to leave it to me. Whether Miss Verinder remains
at Frizinghall, or whether she returns here, I propose, in either case,
to keep a careful watch on all her proceedings--on the people she sees,
on the rides and walks she may take, and on the letters she may write
and receive."
"What next?" asked my mistress.
"I shall next," answered the Sergeant, "request your ladyship's leave to
introduce into the house, as a servant in the place of Rosanna Spearman,
a woman accustomed to private inquiries of this sort, for whose
discretion I can answer."
"What next?" repeated my mistress.
"Next," proceeded the Sergeant, "and last, I propose to send one of
my brother-officers to make an arrangement with that money-lender in
London, whom I mentioned just now as formerly acquainted with Rosanna
Spearman--and whose name and address, your ladyship may rely on it, have
been communicated by Rosanna to Miss Verinder. I don't deny that the
course of action I am now suggesting will cost money, and consume time.
But the result is certain. We run a line round the Moonstone, and we
draw that line closer and closer till we find it in Miss Verinder's
possession, supposing she decides to keep it. If her debts press, and
she decides on sending it away, then we have our man ready, and we meet
the Moonstone on its arrival in London."
To hear her own daughter made the subject of such a proposal as this,
stung my mistress into speaking angrily for the first time.
"Consider your proposal declined, in every particular," she said. "And
go on to your other way of bringing the inquiry to an end."