The Moonstone - Page 293/404

I stopped her there. I could control myself no longer.

"You have done me an infamous wrong!" I broke out hotly. "You suspect me

of stealing your Diamond. I have a right to know, and I WILL know, the

reason why!"

"Suspect you!" she exclaimed, her anger rising with mine. "YOU VILLAIN,

I SAW YOU TAKE THE DIAMOND WITH MY OWN EYES!"

The revelation which burst upon me in those words, the overthrow which

they instantly accomplished of the whole view of the case on which Mr.

Bruff had relied, struck me helpless. Innocent as I was, I stood before

her in silence. To her eyes, to any eyes, I must have looked like a man

overwhelmed by the discovery of his own guilt.

She drew back from the spectacle of my humiliation and of her triumph.

The sudden silence that had fallen upon me seemed to frighten her. "I

spared you, at the time," she said. "I would have spared you now, if you

had not forced me to speak." She moved away as if to leave the room--and

hesitated before she got to the door. "Why did you come here to

humiliate yourself?" she asked. "Why did you come here to humiliate

me?" She went on a few steps, and paused once more. "For God's sake, say

something!" she exclaimed, passionately. "If you have any mercy left,

don't let me degrade myself in this way! Say something--and drive me out

of the room!"

I advanced towards her, hardly conscious of what I was doing. I had

possibly some confused idea of detaining her until she had told me more.

From the moment when I knew that the evidence on which I stood condemned

in Rachel's mind, was the evidence of her own eyes, nothing--not even my

conviction of my own innocence--was clear to my mind. I took her by the

hand; I tried to speak firmly and to the purpose. All I could say was,

"Rachel, you once loved me."

She shuddered, and looked away from me. Her hand lay powerless and

trembling in mine. "Let go of it," she said faintly.

My touch seemed to have the same effect on her which the sound of my

voice had produced when I first entered the room. After she had said

the word which called me a coward, after she had made the avowal which

branded me as a thief--while her hand lay in mine I was her master

still!

I drew her gently back into the middle of the room. I seated her by the

side of me. "Rachel," I said, "I can't explain the contradiction in what

I am going to tell you. I can only speak the truth as you have spoken

it. You saw me--with your own eyes, you saw me take the Diamond. Before

God who hears us, I declare that I now know I took it for the first

time! Do you doubt me still?"