Upon this point, also, he could obtain no satisfactory information. He was greatly angered.
"I thought," he said "when Mr. Layton married into the family of a professional sharp--a fit connection for him--that the conspiracy in my house against my peace of mind, and, it seems to me, against my honor, would come to an end. It was not so. I perceive that I am regarded here as an enemy by my own family, not as a man who has endeavored all through life to perform his duties in an honorable and straightforward way. Go to your room, and let me see the diamond bracelet before this month is ended, or let me know what you have done with it. If you have lost it," he added, gazing sternly upon his daughter, "find it."
Before the month was ended Mabel showed him the diamond bracelet; but her mother was aware that there were other articles missing from among her daughter's jewellery.
Mrs. Rutland having come to the end of her narrative, Dr. Daincourt began to question her.
"Your daughter," he said, "was taken ill on the 26th of March, and I understand that she has been confined to her bed since that day. Were there any premonitory symptoms of a serious illness, or was the seizure a sudden one?"
"It was quite sudden," replied Mrs. Rutland. "I went into her room early in the morning, and found her in a high state of fever."
"Has she been sensible at all since that time?"
"No."
"Not sufficiently sensible to recognize any one who attended her?"
"No; she does not even know me, her own mother."