Godfrey of the infamy of stealing the Diamond, and to attribute
Rachel's conduct to a generous resolution to conceal the crime. On Miss
Verinder's own authority--a perfectly unassailable authority, as you
are aware, in the estimation of Mr. Bruff--that explanation of the
circumstances was now shown to be utterly wrong. The perplexity into
which I had plunged this high legal authority was so overwhelming that
he was quite unable to conceal it from notice. "What a case!" I heard
him say to himself, stopping at the window in his walk, and drumming on
the glass with his fingers. "It not only defies explanation, it's even
beyond conjecture."
There was nothing in these words which made any reply at all needful,
on my part--and yet, I answered them! It seems hardly credible that I
should not have been able to let Mr. Bruff alone, even now. It seems
almost beyond mere mortal perversity that I should have discovered, in
what he had just said, a new opportunity of making myself personally
disagreeable to him. But--ah, my friends! nothing is beyond mortal
perversity; and anything is credible when our fallen natures get the
better of us!
"Pardon me for intruding on your reflections," I said to the
unsuspecting Mr.
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