The extraordinary blackness of
her hair made this paleness, by contrast, so ghastly to look at, that we
all thought she would faint, at the moment when she checked herself in
the middle of her question. Dear Mr. Godfrey made a second attempt to
leave his chair. My aunt entreated her to say no more. I followed my
aunt with a modest medicinal peace-offering, in the shape of a bottle
of salts. We none of us produced the slightest effect on her. "Godfrey,
stay where you are. Mamma, there is not the least reason to be alarmed
about me. Clack, you're dying to hear the end of it--I won't faint,
expressly to oblige YOU."
Those were the exact words she used--taken down in my diary the moment
I got home. But, oh, don't let us judge! My Christian friends, don't let
us judge!
She turned once more to Mr. Godfrey. With an obstinacy dreadful to see,
she went back again to the place where she had checked herself, and
completed her question in these words:
"I spoke to you, a minute since, about what people were saying in
certain quarters. Tell me plainly, Godfrey, do they any of them say that
Mr. Luker's valuable gem is--the Moonstone?"
As the name of the Indian Diamond passed her lips, I saw a change come
over my admirable friend.
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