Franklin Blake!'
"In the case of any other gentleman, I believe I should have been
ashamed of suspecting him of theft, almost as soon as the suspicion had
passed through my mind.
"But the bare thought that YOU had let yourself down to my level, and
that I, in possessing myself of your nightgown, had also possessed
myself of the means of shielding you from being discovered, and
disgraced for life--I say, sir, the bare thought of this seemed to
open such a chance before me of winning your good will, that I passed
blindfold, as one may say, from suspecting to believing. I made up my
mind, on the spot, that you had shown yourself the busiest of anybody
in fetching the police, as a blind to deceive us all; and that the hand
which had taken Miss Rachel's jewel could by no possibility be any other
hand than yours.
"The excitement of this new discovery of mine must, I think, have turned
my head for a while. I felt such a devouring eagerness to see you--to
try you with a word or two about the Diamond, and to MAKE you look at
me, and speak to me, in that way--that I put my hair tidy, and made
myself as nice as I could, and went to you boldly in the library where I
knew you were writing.
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