I carried a pistol, I
should shoot myself the very first hour of wearing it. The mere thought
of it makes me tremble. Oh, why was I ever born, to do man's work?"

"Because, miss, a man would not have done it half so well. When you
saw that villain digging, a man would have rushed out and spoiled
all chance. And now what man could have ever found this? Would Master
Withypool ever have emptied the Moon River for a man, do you think? Or
could any man have been down among us all this time, in this jealous
place, without his business being long ago sifted out and scattered over
him? No, no, miss; you must not talk like that--and with me as well to
help you. The rogues will have reason to wish, I do believe, that they
had only got a man to deal with."

In this argument there were points which had occurred to me before; but
certainly it is a comfort to have one's own ideas in a doubtful matter
reproduced, and perhaps put better, by a mind to which one may have lent
them, perhaps, with a loan all unacknowledged. However, trouble teaches
care, and does it so well that the master and the lesson in usage of
words are now the same; therefore I showed no sign of being suggested
with my own suggestions, but only asked, quietly, "What am I to do?"

"My dear young lady," Mrs. Busk replied, after stopping some time to
think of it, "my own opinion is, for my part, that you ought to consult
somebody."

"But I am, Mrs. Busk. I am now consulting you."

"Then I think, miss, that this precious case should be taken at once to
a jeweler, who can open it without doing any damage, which is more than
we can do."

"To be sure; I have thought of that," I replied. "But how can that
be done without arousing curiosity?--without the jeweler seeing its
contents, if indeed it has any? And in that case the matter would be no
longer at our own disposal, as now it is. I have a great mind to split
it with a hammer. What are the diamonds to me?"

"It is not the diamonds, but the picture, miss, that may be most
important. And more than that, you might ruin the contents, so as not
to make head or tale of them. No, no; it is a risk that must be run; we
must have a jeweler, but not one of this neighborhood."

"Then I shall have to go to London again, and perhaps lose something
most important here. Can you think of no other way out of it?"

"No, miss, at present I see nothing else. Unless you will place it all
in the hands of the police."

"Constable Jo