"
"That's what the newspapers say. It may be enough for the general
reader; but it is not enough for me. The banker's receipt must have
mentioned what the gem was?"
"The banker's receipt, Rachel--as I have heard it described--mentioned
nothing of the kind. A valuable gem, belonging to Mr. Luker; deposited
by Mr. Luker; sealed with Mr. Luker's seal; and only to be given up on
Mr. Luker's personal application. That was the form, and that is all I
know about it."
She waited a moment, after he had said that. She looked at her mother,
and sighed. She looked back again at Mr. Godfrey, and went on.
"Some of our private affairs, at home," she said, "seem to have got into
the newspapers?"
"I grieve to say, it is so."
"And some idle people, perfect strangers to us, are trying to trace a
connexion between what happened at our house in Yorkshire and what has
happened since, here in London?"
"The public curiosity, in certain quarters, is, I fear, taking that
turn."
"The people who say that the three unknown men who ill-used you and Mr.
Luker are the three Indians, also say that the valuable gem----"
There she stopped. She had become gradually, within the last few
moments, whiter and whiter in the face.
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