Complete Works of Wilkie Collins (2070 page)

Betteredge.
Yes, miss.

Rachel.
Send directly and countermand the order. I won’t have the police in the house!

Betteredge.
For the servants’ sakes — for my sake, miss, don’t say that! The police must be sent for. Ask Mr. Franklin (RACHEL
starts
), if you won’t believe me.

Rachel
(
with a sudden change
). Where is Mr. Franklin?

Betteredge.
At breakfast, miss. Do you wish to see him?

Rachel
(
in confusion
). Yes — no — go away! (BETTEREDGE
turns to go out.
) Stop! Tell Mr. Franklin Blake I want to speak to him.

Betteredge
(
speaking aside, puzzled and alarmed
). What on earth is the matter with Miss Rachel? (
He goes out by the hall door.
)

Rachel
(
alone
).The meanness of this detestable theft — the longer I think, the more keenly I feel the revolting meanness of it! He daren’t make away with the diamond on the journey to England — the consul’s letter to me would have pointed at him as the thief. No, he waits till the Moonstone is safe in my house! He can calculate on my poor servants being suspected of the theft; he can sell the jewel abroad, and cheat me as he has cheated his creditors! And this is the man I love? This is the hero of my secret thoughts, for years past? (
She pauses and reflects.
) What am I to say to him? Now I have sent for him, what am I to say? Can I tell him, in plain words, what I saw last night? (
Recoiling from the idea.
) Oh, no! no! I degrade myself, if I degrade
him.
Only yesterday I owned that I loved him. Can I tell him, after that, that he is a thief? Oh, never! never! I should die under the shame of it! (
She pauses again.
) Is it possible that I have judged him rashly? Am I hard on him, poor fellow? He may have been almost beside himself last night with his debts and difficulties. If I only give him a hint, and then leave him here by himself, he may take the opportunity; he may put the diamond back in the drawer. Shall I try it? I will! (FRANKLIN
enters by the hall door.
RACHEL
starts, and composes herself.
)

Franklin
(
in his usual manner
). Betteredge says you wish to see me, Rachel.

Rachel
(
trying to assume indifference
). How did you sleep last night, Franklin?

Franklin
(
aside
). Is that all she wants me for? (
To
RACHEL.) I had a perfect night’s rest; I never once woke till the sun looked in at my window. Pardon me for remarking it, Rachel — you don’t look well this morning.

Rachel
(
confusedly
). I was restless last night. (
She again eyes
FRANKLIN
attentively.
) I was walking about — here, in the hall.

Franklin
(
with sudden interest
). After everybody was in bed?

Rachel
(
with her eye on him
). Why are you so anxious to know?

Franklin.
To get information for the police, to be sure. Did you look at your diamond? Did you see it safe in the drawer?

Rachel
(
aside, disgusted by his apparent duplicity
). He speaks of it first! (
to
FRANKLIN.) I did
not
look at the diamond. (
She pauses, and suddenly makes up her mind what to say next.
) I had a dream about it.

Franklin
(
quietly
). A dream that it was stolen?

Rachel
(
aside — with a burst of indignation
). Oh! (
To
FRANKLIN) Stolen — and restored. I dreamed that the thief repented, and privately put the diamond back in its place, and trusted the rest to my mercy. (
She timidly places her hand on
FRANKLIN’S
arm, and speaks with great tenderness.
) And I made allowances for the temptation, Franklin; I forgave him with all my heart!

Franklin
(
smiling
). Your dream won’t help us to find the diamond, Rachel. Suppose we get back to realities? I have something to say to you about the police.

Rachel
(
turning away from him indignantly
). I don’t want to hear it! (
She approaches the window on the right.
)

Franklin
(
looking after her in amazement
). What have I done to offend her?

Rachel
(
to herself
). If I stay here a moment longer, I shall accuse him of the theft. And what would he do if I did accuse him? Lie to me again, as he has lied to me already. (
She advances nearer to the window.
)

Franklin
(
following her a step and stopping
). Are you going into the rose-garden?

Rachel
(
still pursuing her own thoughts
). And he knows that I would forgive him. He knows that his shameful secret is safe with me!

Franklin
(
approaching her
). May I go with you, Rachel?

Rachel
(
furiously
). No! (
She goes out on the right.
)

Franklin
(
alone, looking after her in extreme astonishment
). In all my experience of women, I never met with the like of this. Her manner to me is absolutely insulting! It almost looks as if the loss of the Moonstone had turned her brain. (GODFREY
and
MR. CANDY
enter by the hall door.
MR. CANDY
has a book under his arm.
)

Godfrey.
Franklin! Mr. Candy has called to inquire after you.

Mr. Candy.
Good-morning, Mr. Blake. How did the experiment of the supper and the grog succeed last night?

Franklin.
Wonderfully well. I haven’t had such a night’s sleep for weeks past. (MR. CANDY
looks astonished.
) I evidently surprise you?

Mr. Candy.
You agreeably surprise me, sir. Any news yet of the lost diamond?

Franklin.
No news.

Mr. Candy.
Sorry to hear it. (
To
GODFREY.) Tell Miss Rachel I have brought back the book I borrowed from the library some time since.

Godfrey
(
looking at the book
). Ah, yes. Combe’s famous work on Phrenology. Some curious things in that book.

Mr. Candy.
Very curious. (
He goes to the bookcase to put the volume away.
)

Godfrey
(
to
FRANKLIN). I am going to Frizinghall. I suppose I can be of no use here?

Franklin
(
impatiently
). Use? We are all in the dark together.

Godfrey.
My dear Franklin, you talk as if there was no hope. The local police have arrived (BETTEREDGE
appears at the hall door
), and the Inspector has begun his inquiries.

Betteredge
(
speaking at the hall door
).The Inspector has made a complete mess of it already.

Franklin.
What is he doing?

Betteredge
(
approaching
FRANKLIN). He has set up the backs of all the women servants in the house. Talks of examining their bedrooms. The cook looks as if she could grill him alive, and the rest of the women are ready to eat him afterwards — underdone. (GODFREY
laughs, and joins
MR. CANDY
at the bookcase.
)

Franklin.
Just what I feared. We’ll dismiss the Inspector before he does any more mischief. Come along. (
He goes out with
BETTEREDGE
by the hall door.
)

Godfrey
(
returning to the front with
MR. CANDY).What news of your sleep-walking patient, Mr. Candy? What does the London doctor say?

Mr. Candy.
The London doctor, after hearing my opinion, put it to the proof on a plan of his own — and the proof disappointed us both. I’ll tell you about it when I have a little more time. (
He looks at his watch.
) My patients are waiting, and my only errand here was to inquire after Mr. Blake.

Godfrey
(
confidentially
). I doubt if Mr. Blake passed quite so quiet a night as he supposes. I thought I heard him moving.

Mr. Candy.
Quite likely. In his state of health he
must
have been restless after that supper last night. He had dreams, you may rely on it.

Godfrey.
He seems to have entirely forgotten his dreams.

Mr. Candy.
There is nothing wonderful in that. Recollect what my patient in the town did when he was asleep and dreaming, and how absolutely unconscious of it
he
was when he woke. My respects to Miss Rachel, and I hope she will soon recover the diamond. Good-morning.

Godfrey.
Good-morning. (MR. CANDY
goes out by the hall door.
GODFREY
looks at the clock on the mantelpiece, and speaks a little anxiously.
) I have some time to spare. Shall I risk proposing to Rachel while I have the chance? I should like to feel sure of my charming cousin before I leave her — with Franklin in the house! She was in the rose-garden when I last heard of her. (
He approaches the window, and is met by
SERGEANT CUFF,
entering from the garden.
)

Cuff.
Mr. Godfrey Ablewhite, I believe?

Godfrey
(
a little surprised
). You know me?

Cuff.
Everybody knows you, sir.

Godfrey
(
rather suspiciously
). May I ask to whom I have the pleasure of speaking? (CUFF
takes a card out of his pocket-book, and silently hands it to
GODFREY. GODFREY
starts as he reads the name.
) “Sergeant Cuff, Detective Police Force.” (
He turns to
CUFF,
speaking rather confusedly
). How is it, Sergeant, that you — I mean, why are you left to find your way in here, without a servant to announce you?

Cuff.
It’s a habit of mine, in cases of theft, to slip in quietly, and take the place, as it were, by surprise.

Godfrey
(
recovering himself
). You have taken us all by surprise, Sergeant. We never expected to see you so soon.