Read "The Moonstone" by Wilkie Collins online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
Consideration for poor Lady Verinder forbade me even to hint that I had guessed the melancholy truth, before she opened her lips. I waited her pleasure in silence; and, having privately arranged to say a few sustaining words at the first convenient opportunity, felt prepared for any duty that could claim me, no matter how painful it might be.
"I have been seriously ill, Drusilla, for some time past," my aunt began. "And, strange to say, without knowing it myself."