The Moonstone: The Discovery of the Truth 5 Summary & Analysis

Franklin Blake picks up the morning after Ezra Jennings’s experiment, “perfectly ignorant of all that I had said and done under the influence of the opium.” He and Rachel immediately return to their earlier affection (and Mrs. Merridew almost discovers them while searching for the explosion—which the others promise her was quite timid). Rachel decides to follow Franklin and Bruff to trace the Moonstone in London, and Betteredge begins resetting the house to normal. Everyone was “very sad” that Ezra Jennings could not accompany them.

When the group arrives in London, a boy with incredibly large eyes meets them at the train platform and Bruff and Franklin go with him. Bruff explains that Mr. Luker has recently been seen with two police officers, and that this likely means he is going to the bank to withdraw the Moonstone, for some fear of the Indians. The boy, Bruff explains, “is one of the sharpest boys in London” and does errands for his office. The other workers have nicknamed him “Gooseberry.” Gooseberry accompanies Bruff and Franklin inside the crowded bank, where they learn from two of Bruff’s associates that Mr. Luker has recently gone “into the inner office.” Franklin does not see any of the Indians, but he and Bruff keep an eye out for “their spy.”

All of the sudden, Mr. Luker and the two plainclothes police officers come out of the bank offices, and Franklin and Bruff watch Luker intently as he darts through the crowd, waiting for him to hand over the Diamond. He seems to touch “a short, stout man” and then disappears out the door. And when Bruff turns to confer with the others, one of his associates and Gooseberry have disappeared. Bruff and Franklin follow the man in the grey suit, who ends up going to the chemist’s office where he works—and seems to have nothing to do with the Moonstone.

 Franklin and Bruff meet Bruff’s second associate, who has followed another man who also turned out to have no relation to the Moonstone. And after dinner, the policeman sent to protect Mr. Luker report that he had an ordinary night: he returned home and went to bed, and nobody suspicious loitered around the house. He dismissed the policemen, which means he almost certainly does not have the Diamond with him. Gooseberry never turns up. Blake leaves a note instructing the boy to meet him at Rachel’s place, and when Blake arrives there hours later than he anticipated, he discovers a note from the boy, who visited but fell asleep waiting. Gooseberry promises to visit the next morning.

The next morning, Franklin calls Gooseberry inside, but discovers that his visitor is not Gooseberry at all: it is Sergeant Cuff. Dressed in white, “as if he had lived in the country all his life,” Cuff offers complaints about London and declares that he has just returned from Ireland. After receiving Franklin’s letter, he admits that “I completely mistook the case” the year before, but offers that “it’s only in books that the officers of the detective force are superior to the weakness of making a mistake.” He has come to reconsider the case, “in grateful remembrance of” Julia’s generous check (although he will refuse further payment).

Franklin tells Cuff about Ezra Jennings’s experiment, and together they begin speculating about what Franklin must have done with the Moonstone after returning to his room. Cuff offers a sealed letter that he promises contains his best theory of the case and argues that his primary suspect as named in the letter—in addition to Mr. Luker—should be watched for the foreseeable future.

Gooseberry arrives soon after and is star-struck to realize that Franklin’s other guest is Cuff. They exchange introductions—in the course of which Gooseberry reveals his name to be “Octaivus Guy”—and Cuff asks what Gooseberry was doing the day before, when he was “missed at the bank.” He was following a dark-skinned man “dressed like a sailor,” whom the others had suspected of working for the Indians, and whom Gooseberry had seen receiving something from Luker. Gooseberry followed the man as he darted outside and got into a cab.

Briefly, one of Mr. Bruff’s clerks stops in to report that his boss is sick and that he, the clerk, will fill in for the time being. Franklin explains that Sergeant Cuff’s arrival makes this needless and sends the man back to Bruff, whom he promises to keep updated.

Franklin returns to Cuff, who declares that Gooseberry certainly “followed the right man.” They get in a cab for central London as Cuff proclaims that Gooseberry has a future in detective work. Cuff explains what Gooseberry told him while Franklin was meeting with Bruff’s clerk: the sailor went to the Tower Wharf, where he tried to board a boat for Rotterdam overnight—but was rejected, as the boat was being cleaned. As he followed the sailor to an eating-house, Gooseberry noticed a man who looked like “a respectable mechanic” also following the sailor, and he saw an Indian-looking man stop in a taxi to talk with the mechanic. Franklin realizes that the sailor is not the Indians’ employee, but more likely “the man who had got the Diamond.”

Eventually, the mechanic and then Gooseberry followed the sailor into the eating-house. The mechanic and the sailor ate quietly, reading newspapers, at separate tables until late in the night. The mechanic and Gooseberry then followed the sailor to a pub, “The Wheel of Fortune,” and the sailor asked for a room. After he went up to his room, the mechanic soon disappeared, and an argument ensued upstairs. Suddenly appearing drunk, the mechanic got thrown out of the pub for entering the sailor’s room (which he claimed was his own) and Gooseberry followed him outside. As soon as he distanced himself from the pub, the mechanic “recovered his balance instantly, and became […] sober.” Gooseberry returned to the pub, but nothing happened, and on his way to talk with Bruff he saw the mechanic approach the pub, see a light turned on upstairs, and leave in apparent satisfaction.

Sergeant Cuff tells Franklin what he suspects: the sailor likely had the Diamond, the Indians likely sent the mechanic, and the mechanic likely went upstairs in the pub in order to get “a description of the [sailor’s] room” for the Indians. The next step will be to visit the Wheel of Fortune—where they are headed now—and investigate, although Cuff regrets that they could not have done this the previous night (due to Franklin’s tardiness).

There is clearly “something wrong” at the Wheel of Fortune: “a bewildered servant girl” is tending bar, the actual barmaid is inside, and the landlord is busy upstairs. When they meet him upstairs and Sergeant Cuff introduces himself, the landlord immediately turns apologetic and explains that the sailor “is upsetting the whole house.” The sailor disappeared overnight and left his door locked, even though he had asked to be called at 7:00 AM. He has still not been found, and the landlord is currently sending for a carpenter to open the door. The sailor was “perfectly sober” but did not pay the room in advance, and could have escaped through a trapdoor onto the roof.

The carpenter arrives and opens the door, which is barricaded from the inside. The sailor is not gone, but laying on the bed, dead. While Cuff investigates the body, the fascinated Gooseberry leads Franklin to an empty jewel box in the corner of the room, and a torn piece of paper noting that this box, with “a valuable of great price,” was retrieved from the bank by Mr. Luker. Cuff shows Franklin that the sailor’s face is actually a disguise. After pulling off the wig and beard, then washing the makeup off the man’s face, Cuff comes to Franklin “with horror in his face.” He asks Franklin to read his sealed letter—inside, it says “Godfrey Ablewhite,” the same person lying dead on the bed.