hdrew into her bedroom, and
shut and locked the door.

Before we knew which way to turn next, my lady came in, hearing my voice
in her daughter's sitting-room, and wondering what had happened. The news
of the loss of the Diamond seemed to petrify her. She went straight to
Miss Rachel's bedroom, and insisted on being admitted. Miss Rachel let
here in.

The alarm, running through the house like fire, caught the two gentlemen
next.

Mr. Godfrey was the first to come out of his room. All he did when
he heard what had happened was to hold up his hands in a state of
bewilderment, which didn't say much for his natural strength of mind.
Mr. Franklin, whose clear head I had confidently counted on to advise
us, seemed to be as helpless as his cousin when he heard the news in
his turn. For a wonder, he had had a good night's rest at last; and
the unaccustomed luxury of sleep had, as he said himself, apparently
stupefied him. However, when he had swallowed his cup of coffee--which
he always took, on the foreign plan, some hours before he ate any
breakfast--his brains brightened; the clear-headed side of him turned
up, and he took the matter in hand, resolutely and cleverly, much as
follows:

He first sent for the servants, and told them to leave all the lower
doors and windows (with the exception of the front door, which I had
opened) exactly as they had been left when we locked up over night. He
next proposed to his cousin and to me to make quite sure, before we
took any further steps, that the Diamond had not accidentally dropped
somewhere out of sight--say at the back of the cabinet, or down behind
the table on which the cabinet stood. Having searched in both places,
and found nothing--having also questioned Penelope, and discovered
from her no more than the little she had already told me--Mr. Franklin
suggested next extending our inquiries to Miss Rachel, and sent Penelope
to knock at her bed-room door.

My lady answered the knock, and closed the door behind her. The moment
after we heard it locked inside by Miss Rachel. My mistress came out
among us, looking sorely puzzled and distressed. "The loss of the
Diamond seems to have quite overwhelmed Rachel," she said, in reply to
Mr. Franklin. "She shrinks, in the strangest manner, from speaking
of it, even to ME. It is impossible you can see her for the present."
Having added to our perplexities by this account of Miss Rachel, my
lady, after a little effort, recovered her u