"In this uncertainty, one thing was plain--that Sergeant Cuff was

miles away from knowing the whole truth. You were safe as long as the

nightgown was safe--and not a moment longer.

"I quite despair of making you understand the distress and terror which

pressed upon me now. It was impossible for me to risk wearing your

nightgown any longer. I might find myself taken off, at a moment's

notice, to the police court at Frizinghall, to be charged on suspicion,

and searched accordingly. While Sergeant Cuff still left me free, I had

to choose--and at once--between destroying the nightgown, or hiding it

in some safe place, at some safe distance from the house.

"If I had only been a little less fond of you, I think I should have

destroyed it. But oh! how could destroy the only thing I had which

proved that I had saved you from discovery? If we did come to an

explanation together, and if you suspected me of having some bad motive,

and denied it all, how could I win upon you to trust me, unless I had

the nightgown to produce? Was it wronging you to believe, as I did and

do still, that you might hesitate to let a poor girl like me be the

sharer of your secret, and your accomplice in the theft which your

money-troubles had tempted you to commit? Think of your cold behaviour

to me, sir, and you will hardly wonder at my unwillingness to destroy

the only claim on your confidence and your gratitude which it was my

fortune to possess.

"I determined to hide it; and the place I fixed on was the place I knew

best--the Shivering Sand.

"As soon as the questioning was over, I made the first excuse that came

into my head, and got leave to go out for a breath of fresh air. I went

straight to Cobb's Hole, to Mr. Yolland's cottage. His wife and daughter

were the best friends I had. Don't suppose I trusted them with your

secret--I have trusted nobody. All I wanted was to write this letter

to you, and to have a safe opportunity of taking the nightgown off me.

Suspected as I was, I could do neither of those things with any sort of

security, at the house.

"And now I have nearly got through my long letter, writing it alone in

Lucy Yolland's bedroom. When it is done, I shall go downstairs with the

nightgown rolled up, and hidden under my cloak. I shall find the means

I want for keeping it safe and dry in its hiding-place, among the litter

of old things in Mrs. Yolland's kitchen. And then I shall go to the

Shivering Sand--don't be afraid of my letting my footmarks betray

me!--and hide the nightgown down in the sand, where no living creature

can find it without being first let into the secret by myself.




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