I had but one answer to make to that appeal. Without a moment's
hesitation I told him the truth, as unreservedly as I have told it in
these pages.
He started to his feet, and looked at me with breathless eagerness as I
approached the leading incident of my story.
"It is certain that I went into the room," I said; "it is certain that
I took the Diamond. I can only meet those two plain facts by declaring
that, do what I might, I did it without my own knowledge----"
Ezra Jennings caught me excitedly by the arm.
"Stop!" he said. "You have suggested more to me than you suppose. Have
you ever been accustomed to the use of opium?"
"I never tasted it in my life."
"Were your nerves out of order, at this time last year? Were you
unusually restless and irritable?"
"Yes."
"Did you sleep badly?"
"Wretchedly. Many nights I never slept at all."
"Was the birthday night an exception? Try, and remember. Did you sleep
well on that one occasion?"
"I do remember! I slept soundly."
He dropped my arm as suddenly as he had taken it--and looked at me with
the air of a man whose mind was relieved of the last doubt that rested
on it.
"This is a marked day in your life, and in mine," he said, gravely.
"I am absolutely certain, Mr. Blake, of one thing--I have got what Mr.
Candy wanted to say to you this morning, in the notes that I took at my
patient's bedside. Wait! that is not all. I am firmly persuaded that I
can prove you to have been unconscious of what you were about, when you
entered the room and took the Diamond. Give me time to think, and time
to question you. I believe the vindication of your innocence is in my
hands!"
"Explain yourself, for God's sake! What do you mean?"
In the excitement of our colloquy, we had walked on a few steps, beyond
the clump of dwarf trees which had hitherto screened us from view.
Before Ezra Jennings could answer me, he was hailed from the high road
by a man, in great agitation, who had been evidently on the look-out for
him.
"I am coming," he called back; "I am coming as fast as I can!" He turned
to me. "There is an urgent case waiting for me at the village yonder;
I ought to have been there half an hour since--I must attend to it
at once. Give me two hours from this time, and call at Mr. Candy's
again--and I will engage to be ready for you."
"How am I to wait!" I exclaimed, impatiently. "Can't you quiet my mind
by a word of explanation before we part?"