I admitted (a little unwillingly) that the idea was a new one, at any rate.
'It's Mr. Murthwaite's idea quite as much as mine,' said Mr. Bruff. 'It might have never entered my head, but for a conversation we had together some time since. If Mr. Murthwaite is right, the Indians are likely to be on the lookout at the bank, towards the end of the month too—and something serious may come of it. What comes of it doesn't matter to you and me except as it may help us to lay our hands on the mysterious Somebody who pawned the Diamond. That person, you may rely on it, is responsible (I don't pretend to know how) for the position in which you stand at this moment; and that person alone can set you right in Rachel's estimation.'
'I can't deny,' I said, 'that the plan you propose meets the difficulty in a way that is very daring, and very ingenious, and very new. But——'
'But you have an objection to make?'
'Yes. My objection is, that your proposal obliges us to wait.'
'Granted. As I reckon the time, it requires you to wait about a fortnight—more or less. Is that so very long?'
'It's a life-time, Mr. Bruff, in such a situation as mine. My existence will be simply unendurable to me, unless I do something towards clearing my character at once.'
'Well, well, I understand that. Have you thought yet of what you can do?'
'I have thought of consulting Sergeant Cuff.'
'He has retired from the police. It's useless to expect the Sergeant to help you.'
'I know where to find him; and I can but try.'
'Try,' said Mr. Bruff, after a moment's consideration. 'The case has assumed such an extraordinary aspect since Sergeant Cuff's time, that you may revive his interest in the inquiry. Try, and let me hear the result. In the meanwhile,' he continued, rising, 'if you make no discoveries between this, and the end of the month, am I free to try, on my side, what can be done by keeping a lookout at the bank?'
'Certainly,' I answered—'unless I relieve you of all necessity for trying the experiment in the interval.'
Mr. Bruff smiled, and took up his hat.
'Tell Sergeant Cuff,' he rejoined, 'that I say the discovery of the truth depends on the discovery of the person who pawned the Diamond. And let me hear what the Sergeant's experience says to that.'
So we parted.
Early the next morning, I set forth for the little town of Dorking—the place of Sergeant Cuff's retirement, as indicated to me by Betteredge.
Inquiring at the hotel, I received the necessary directions for finding the Sergeant's cottage. It was approached by a quiet bye-road, a little way out of the town, and it stood snugly in the middle of its own plot of garden ground, protected by a good brick wall at the back and the sides, and by a high quickset hedge in front. The gate, ornamented at the upper part by smartly-painted trellis-work, was locked. After ringing at the bell, I peered through the trellis-work, and saw the great Cuff's favourite flower everywhere; blooming in his garden, clustering over his door, looking in at his windows. Far from the crimes and the mysteries of the great city, the illustrious thief-taker was placidly living out the last Sybarite years of his life, smothered in roses!
A decent elderly woman opened the gate to me, and at once annihilated all the hopes I had built on securing the assistance of Sergeant Cuff. He had started, only the day before, on a journey to Ireland.
'Has he gone there on business?' I asked.
The woman smiled. 'He has only one business now, sir,' she said; 'and that's roses. Some great man's gardener in Ireland has found out something new in the growing of roses—and Mr. Cuff's away to inquire into it.'
'Do you know when he will be back?'
'It's quite uncertain, sir. Mr. Cuff said he should come back directly, or be away some time, just according as he found the new discovery worth nothing, or worth looking into. If you have any message to leave for him, I'll take care, sir, that he gets it.'
I gave her my card, having first written on it in pencil: 'I have something to say about the Moonstone. Let me hear from you as
