"Didn't you tell me this morning," he said, "that one of the
tradespeople declared he had met Rosanna yesterday, on the footway to
Frizinghall, when we supposed her to be ill in her room?"
"Yes, sir."
"If my aunt's maid and the other woman have spoken the truth, you may
depend upon it the tradesman did meet her. The girl's attack of illness
was a blind to deceive us. She had some guilty reason for going to the
town secretly. The paint-stained dress is a dress of hers; and the fire
heard crackling in her room at four in the morning was a fire lit
to destroy it. Rosanna Spearman has stolen the Diamond. I'll go in
directly, and tell my aunt the turn things have taken."
"Not just yet, if you please, sir," said a melancholy voice behind us.
We both turned about, and found ourselves face to face with Sergeant
Cuff.
"Why not just yet?" asked Mr. Franklin.
"Because, sir, if you tell her ladyship, her ladyship will tell Miss
Verinder."
"Suppose she does. What then?" Mr. Franklin said those words with a
sudden heat and vehemence, as if the Sergeant had mortally offended him.
"Do you think it's wise, sir," said Sergeant Cuff, quietly, "to put such
a question as that to me--at such a time as this?"
There was a moment's silence between them: Mr.
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