A sealed letter it had been placed in
Limping Lucy's hand, and a sealed letter it remained to me and to every
one about the girl, her own parents included. We all suspected her of
having been in the dead woman's confidence; we all tried to make her
speak; we all failed. Now one, and now another, of the servants--still
holding to the belief that Rosanna had stolen the Diamond and had hidden
it--peered and poked about the rocks to which she had been traced,
and peered and poked in vain. The tide ebbed, and the tide flowed; the
summer went on, and the autumn came. And the Quicksand, which hid her
body, hid her secret too.
The news of Mr. Franklin's departure from England on the Sunday morning,
and the news of my lady's arrival in London with Miss Rachel on the
Monday afternoon, had reached me, as you are aware, by the Tuesday's
post. The Wednesday came, and brought nothing. The Thursday produced a
second budget of news from Penelope.
My girl's letter informed me that some great London doctor had been
consulted about her young lady, and had earned a guinea by remarking
that she had better be amused. Flower-shows, operas, balls--there was
a whole round of gaieties in prospect; and Miss Rachel, to her mother's
astonishment, eagerly took to it all.
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