Again she hesitated, but in a moment she said firmly:
"I know that you have a right to ask me these questions, and I will reply to them if you insist upon it. But first tell me, would it be right for me to call a name to you, as one that I may have suspected, when I had but the flimsiest excuse for my suspicion? Might I not thus do more harm than good by attracting your attention to a false scent?"
"That is certainly a possibility, Miss Remsen, but it is one which I am inclined to risk. I mean that I prefer to trust to my experience, than to have you omit to tell me your suspicions."
"Very well, only promise me that you will not jump to conclusions, and thus perhaps annoy the person whom I shall name."
"I agree to that. I will take no action without sufficient reason other than that furnished by yourself."
"Very well. You asked if I suspected any one, and again why I did not resist the thief. If you will remember, my head was bowed. At first I could not understand how something seemed to move my pin. I fancied that it had become entangled in the Sultan's robe. Then the clock began to chime, and in a moment it flashed across my mind that perhaps Mr. Mitchel was taking my pin, in order to win his wager. Therefore I said nothing. This makes my action clear to you?"
"Perfectly. Then I am to understand that Mr. Mitchel did not tell you in advance that he would do this?"
"No, he did not, and that is why I have sent for you."
"I don't understand you."
"Why, all the time that I thought he had the pin I was not worried. I even went so far as to act indignation at the festival. That was partly for your edification and mystification. I wanted to help Mr. Mitchel's plan. But when it occurred to me yesterday that Mr. Mitchel, if he had meant to take the pin, would have told me in advance, I saw at once that my first idea was wrong, and that my ruby is really gone. Then I wrote to you."