The only thing I could not do, was to keep off the
subject of the Moonstone! My own good sense ought to have warned me, I
know, to let the matter rest--but, there! the virtues which distinguish
the present generation were not invented in my time. Sergeant Cuff had
hit me on the raw, and, though I did look down upon him with contempt,
the tender place still tingled for all that. The end of it was that I
perversely led him back to the subject of her ladyship's letter. "I am
quite satisfied myself," I said. "But never mind that! Go on, as if
I was still open to conviction. You think Miss Rachel is not to be
believed on her word; and you say we shall hear of the Moonstone again.
Back your opinion, Sergeant," I concluded, in an airy way. "Back your
opinion."
Instead of taking offence, Sergeant Cuff seized my hand, and shook it
till my fingers ached again.
"I declare to heaven," says this strange officer solemnly, "I would
take to domestic service to-morrow, Mr. Betteredge, if I had a chance of
being employed along with You! To say you are as transparent as a child,
sir, is to pay the children a compliment which nine out of ten of them
don't deserve.
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