He showed plainly that he was not satisfied with my reply.
"With all deference to you," he said, "and with all deference to your
legal adviser, I maintain the opinion which I expressed just now. It
rests, I am well aware, on a mere assumption. Pardon me for reminding
you, that your opinion also rests on a mere assumption as well."
The view he took of the matter was entirely new to me. I waited
anxiously to hear how he would defend it.
"I assume," pursued Ezra Jennings, "that the influence of the
opium--after impelling you to possess yourself of the Diamond, with the
purpose of securing its safety--might also impel you, acting under the
same influence and the same motive, to hide it somewhere in your own
room. YOU assume that the Hindoo conspirators could by no possibility
commit a mistake. The Indians went to Mr. Luker's house after the
Diamond--and, therefore, in Mr. Luker's possession the Diamond must be!
Have you any evidence to prove that the Moonstone was taken to London
at all? You can't even guess how, or by whom, it was removed from Lady
Verinder's house! Have you any evidence that the jewel was pledged to
Mr. Luker? He declares that he never heard of the Moonstone; and his
bankers' receipt acknowledges nothing but the deposit of a valuable of
great price. The Indians assume that Mr. Luker is lying--and you assume
again that the Indians are right. All I say, in differing with you,
is--that my view is possible. What more, Mr. Blake, either logically, or
legally, can be said for yours?"
It was put strongly; but there was no denying that it was put truly as
well.
"I confess you stagger me," I replied. "Do you object to my writing to
Mr. Bruff, and telling him what you have said?"
"On the contrary, I shall be glad if you will write to Mr. Bruff. If we
consult his experience, we may see the matter under a new light. For the
present, let us return to our experiment with the opium. We have decided
that you leave off the habit of smoking from this moment."
"From this moment?"
"That is the first step. The next step is to reproduce, as nearly as we
can, the domestic circumstances which surrounded you last year."
How was this to be done? Lady Verinder was dead. Rachel and I, so long
as the suspicion of theft rested on me, were parted irrevocably. Godfrey
Ablewhite was away travelling on the Continent. It was simply impossible
to reassemble the people who had inhabited the house, when I had slept
in it last. The statement of this objection did not appear to embarrass
Ezra Jennings. He attached very little importance, he said, to
reassembling the same people--seeing that it would be vain to expect
them to reassume the various positions which they had occupied towards
me in the past times. On the other hand, he considered it essential to
the success of the experiment, that I should see the same objects about
me which had surrounded me when I was last in the house.