You sent to London for Sergeant Cuff?
Franklin. Why are you angry with me? I have sent for the right man to recover your diamond.
Rachel (with a burst of indignation). Oh! this is more than even my endurance can bear. (She rings the bell furiously. ANDREW appears.) Order the carriage--I am going back to London by the next train. (She takes her garden hat off a table. FRANKLIN looks at her in amazement. CUFF smiles to himself.)
Franklin. My dear Rachel--!
Rachel. Not a word. Don't speak to me--don't look at me! The very air of the house is hateful to me while you are in it!
Franklin. What do you mean, Rachel? Do you know that you are insulting me before these men?
Rachel. Insult you? You? Franklin Blake, you're beneath being insulted, and you know it! (FRANKLIN stands petrified. RACHEL continues, pointing to CUFF.) Betteredge! pay that man his fee, and don't let me find him here when I come back! (She goes out on the right.)
Cuff (looking after her). She knows who took the diamond! (To FRANKLIN.) We've found the clue, sir.
Franklin (in great surprise). Where is the clue?
Cuff (pointing to RACHEL'S room). In that room.
Betteredge (scandalised). Miss Rachel's room! You're not going in there without Miss Rachel's leave?
Cuff. It's my duty to search the room, Mr. Betteredge. And I mean to search it while I have the chance.
Betteredge (furiously). Your duty? Damn you, you have some suspicion of Miss Rachel! (He seizes CUFF by the collar of his coat. CUFF shows no surprise, and makes no resistance.)
Franklin (interfering). Betteredge! (He forces BETTEREDGE to release CUFF.) The Sergeant is right. Rachel's own conduct justifies him. (He retires with a gesture of despair, seats himself at a table, and hides his face in his hands. BETTEREDGE stands petrified by what FRANKLIN has just said to him.)
Cuff (as quietly as usual). If it's any comfort to you, Mr. Betteredge, collar me again. You don't in the least know how to do it. But I'll overlook your awkwardness in consideration of your feelings.
Betteredge (strongly agitated). I ask your pardon, Sergeant. Please to remember as some excuse for me that I've served the family for fifty years. Many and many a time Miss Rachel's climbed on my knees when she was a child-- (His voice fails him--he turns away to hide his tears.)
Cuff. Don't distress yourself, Mr. Betteredge. I've hushed up worse cases than this in my time. (He goes into RACHEL'S room.)
Betteredge (bewildered and distressed). Master Franklin! You have a clear head--you can see farther than I can. What does this mean?
Franklin (without moving). It means that I have done my best to help Rachel to find her diamond, and that she has grossly insulted me in return. It means that Rachel is the one person in the house who refuses to let her wardrobe be examined. Who is to blame Sergeant Cuff if he suspects her after that?
Betteredge (sternly). Suspects her of what, sir?
Franklin. Of knowing who stole the Moonstone, and of concealing the scoundrel who took it for some reason of her own.
Betteredge (indignantly). It's a lie--it's an infernal lie! I wish I had throttled the Sergeant when I had hold of him. (CUFF appears at the door with the dressing-gown in his hand. BETTEREDGE turns on him with renewed anger.) Well! now you've searched her room, what have you got there? (He points to the dressing-gown.)
Cuff (quietly). I've got the thief.
Franklin (starting up and joining them).Who is the thief? (CUFF opens the dressing-gown. FRANKLIN recognises it as his own, and starts back, like a man thunderstruck.)
Cuff (pointing to it). Who wore this dressing-gown last night? Here is the stain of the varnish as plain as can be, to sight and smell. (He looks up and notices FRANKLIN.) Mr. Blake, you know something about this.
Betteredge (also noticing him, in alarm). Master Franklin! Master Franklin! What's come to you? (FRANKLIN tries vainly to speak. His eyes are fixed, horror-struck, on the dressing-gown. CUFF approaches FRANKLIN suspiciously, with the dressing-gown still in his hand.)
Cuff. I rely on your honour, sir, to speak the truth--no matter how painful it may be. (He holds up the dressing-gown.) Whose dressing-gown is this?
Franklin (wildly). Mine!!! (As FRANKLIN gives his answer, RACHEL enters from the garden. She sees the dressing-gown--a faint cry escapes her--she stops, rooted to the spot. The three men all turn, and look at her in silence. BETTEREDGE is the first to speak.)
Betteredge (pointing to the dressing-gown). Miss Rachel! do you know anything about this? (RACHEL remains immovably silent, with her eyes fixed on FRANKLIN.)
Cuff. Innocent people may be suspected, miss, unless you tell us what you know. (RACHEL still keeps silence.)
Franklin (appealing to her in despair). Rachel! Rachel! (RACHEL shudders at his voice. Her head sinks upon her breast. With a motion of her hand she signs sternly to BETTEREDGE and to CUFF, who stand between her and the door of her room, to let her pass. They obey. She slowly crosses the stage to the door. CUFF makes a last appeal to her.)
Cuff. For the last time, miss, have you nothing to tell us?
Rachel (coldly and sternly). I have nothing to tell you.
Betteredge. Oh, Miss Rachel! surely you have something to say?
Rachel (to BETTEREDGE). I have this to say. I supposed my room to be sacred from intrusion, especially while you were here. For the future I shall lock my door. (She enters her room, and is heard to double-lock her door.)
Franklin (wildly). Am I the thief? (BETTEREDGE vainly attempts to compose him.) Do your duty, Sergeant! On my word as an honest man, on my oath as a Christian, I know no more how that stain came on my dressing-gown than you do. I can't expect you to believe me. Do your duty.
Cuff (firmly). Compose yourself, sir. I know my trade a little better than to trust to appearances. (He throws the dressing-gown across a chair.) As matters stand, I grant you, the right reading of the riddle seems hard to guess. Patience, Mr. Blake! Time will do for us what we can't do for ourselves.
Franklin. Patience? There is the dressing-gown accusing me on the plainest evidence of being a thief! Who can be patient under that?
Betteredge (angrily). The dressing-gown's a liar!
Cuff. Gently, Mr. Betteredge. The dressing-gown is only a witness that can't speak. (To FRANKLIN.) There's one awkward difficulty in our way, sir. Miss Rachel has given me my dismissal from the house.
Franklin (passionately). Neither you nor I can leave the house until my innocence is established! In the frightful position in which I am placed I want all your experience to help me. (He walks to and fro excitedly.) Rachel's conduct is simply inhuman! "I have nothing to tell you--" that is all she has to say; with my dressing-gown found in her room, and with my reputation at stake. I will make her explain herself. (He approaches the door on the left. CUFF and BETTEREDGE stop him.)
Cuff. You were good enough to say just now, sir, that you wanted my experience to help you. If you speak a word to Miss Rachel as things are at present, you force me to throw up the case.