“You saw?”

“You.”

“Dressed as usual?”

“No.”

“In my nightgown?”

“In your nightgown—­with your bedroom candle in your hand.”

“Alone?”

“Alone.”

“Could you see my face?”

“Yes.”

“Plainly?”

“Quite plainly.  The candle in your hand showed it to me.”

“Were my eyes open?”

“Yes.”

“Did you notice anything strange in them?  Anything like a fixed, vacant expression?”

“Nothing of the sort.  Your eyes were bright—­brighter than usual.  You looked about in the room, as if you knew you were where you ought not to be, and as if you were afraid of being found out.”

“Did you observe one thing when I came into the room—­did you observe how I walked?”

“You walked as you always do.  You came in as far as the middle of the room—­and then you stopped and looked about you.”

“What did you do, on first seeing me?”

“I could do nothing.  I was petrified.  I couldn’t speak, I couldn’t call out, I couldn’t even move to shut my door.”

“Could I see you, where you stood?”

“You might certainly have seen me.  But you never looked towards me.  It’s useless to ask the question.  I am sure you never saw me.”

“How are you sure?”

“Would you have taken the Diamond? would you have acted as you did afterwards? would you be here now—­if you had seen that I was awake and looking at you?  Don’t make me talk of that part of it!  I want to answer you quietly.  Help me to keep as calm as I can.  Go on to something else.”

She was right—­in every way, right.  I went on to other things.

“What did I do, after I had got to the middle of the room, and had stopped there?”

“You turned away, and went straight to the corner near the window—­where my Indian cabinet stands.”

“When I was at the cabinet, my back must have been turned towards you.  How did you see what I was doing?”

“When you moved, I moved.”

“So as to see what I was about with my hands?”

“There are three glasses in my sitting-room.  As you stood there, I saw all that you did, reflected in one of them.”

“What did you see?”

“You put your candle on the top of the cabinet.  You opened, and shut, one drawer after another, until you came to the drawer in which I had put my Diamond.  You looked at the open drawer for a moment.  And then you put your hand in, and took the Diamond out.”

“How do you know I took the Diamond out?”

“I saw your hand go into the drawer.  And I saw the gleam of the stone between your finger and thumb, when you took your hand out.”

“Did my hand approach the drawer again—­to close it, for instance?”

“No.  You had the Diamond in your right hand; and you took the candle from the top of the cabinet with your left hand.”