In
my own private mind I was more puzzled by Miss Rachel's extraordinary
language and conduct than words can tell. Taking what she had said at
her bed-room door as a guide to guess by, I could only conclude that
she was mortally offended by our sending for the police, and that
Mr. Franklin's astonishment on the terrace was caused by her having
expressed herself to him (as the person chiefly instrumental in fetching
the police) to that effect. If this guess was right, why--having lost
her Diamond--should she object to the presence in the house of the very
people whose business it was to recover it for her? And how, in Heaven's
name, could SHE know that the Moonstone would never be found again?
As things stood, at present, no answer to those questions was to be
hoped for from anybody in the house. Mr. Franklin appeared to think it
a point of honour to forbear repeating to a servant--even to so old a
servant as I was--what Miss Rachel had said to him on the terrace. Mr.
Godfrey, who, as a gentleman and a relative, had been probably admitted
into Mr. Franklin's confidence, respected that confidence as he was
bound to do. My lady, who was also in the secret no doubt, and who alone
had access to Miss Rachel, owned openly that she could make nothing
of her.
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