The Moonstone: The Discovery of the Truth 4 Summary & Analysis

Ezra Jennings’s narration consists of passages from his journal, copied directly. On June 15, 1849, he writes that he has mailed Rachel a letter asking if she will agree to the experiment he has planned with Franklin Blake.

On June 16, Ezra Jennings (who is suffering from opium withdrawal) writes that he has found Franklin Blake “miserable [and] restless” as a result of quitting smoking, and that Franklin must go outside to work up an appetite for dinner. He tells Franklin that he has written Rachel and Franklin describes Betteredge’s objections to the opium experiment. Ezra Jennings wonders why he feels such an “attraction” to Franklin, whether it is because (unlike everyone else) Franklin is kind to him or because he allows Jennings to feel sympathy, just as his addiction empties him of feeling.

On June 17, Jennings writes that Mr. Candy is leaving for a trip, which allows him to avoid discussing his experiment. Rachel has written Jennings back, insisting that Jennings’s explanation “satisfied her of Mr. Blake’s innocence” and revealing her obvious love for Franklin. Jennings, whose own “love has been torn from” him, feels that he can live vicariously through “these two young people [whom he is bringing] together again.” Rachel has asked, first, that Franklin not see her letter, and secondly, that she may go to Yorkshire, arrange the house, and be “present as one of the witnesses” for the experiment. Jennings suspects that she wants to tell Franklin firsthand that she considers him innocent, but he worries that this would interfere with the experiment by throwing off Franklin’s emotions. Jennings wonders how he can satisfy Rachel’s request without introducing this interference.

Later that day, Jennings visits Franklin, who is feeling somewhat better. Jennings wants to keep him “not too well” and “not too ill.” He tells Franklin that Rachel has consented to the experiment, but not that she is eager to see him proven innocent. Jennings then suffers an acute attack of his opium withdrawal and later writes back to Rachel, suggesting she arrive on the night of the experiment rather than coming to Yorkshire earlier and talking with Franklin.

On June 18, Jennings writes that he fears he will return to opium, as his withdrawal symptoms are worsening. Betteredge is with Franklin when Jennings arrives for his visit in Yorkshire, and Franklin explains that Bruff wrote him and “expressed the strongest disapproval” of the planned experiment, having asked for the opinion of “an eminent physician” down in London. Bruff refused to talk about the Moonstone, which he and Mr. Muthwaite were confident remained in Mr. Luker’s possession. Jennings believes “that distrust of me was at the bottom of all this,” but Franklin’s faith in him remains unshaken.

Betteredge turns to Jennings, expresses his stern disapproval of the experiment, and yet promises that he will faithfully carry out his orders, as always. He asks for Jennings’s specific directions—to decorate the house exactly like the year before (besides the few things that cannot exactly be replicated). Betteredge asks about a long list of minutiae (for instance, does he need to replace the pins under the carpet? and does he need to repair the “statue of a fat naked child”—Cupid—whose wing fell off?). “Speaking as a servant,” Betteredge thanks Jennings for his information, and “speaking as a man,” he tells Jennings that his “head is full of maggots.”

The next day, on June 19, Jennings writes that he received a letter from Mrs. Merridew, who complains that she cannot send the 19-year-old Rachel away “without a ‘chaperone.’” Jennings interprets this as proof “that Mrs. Merridew stands in mortal fear of the opinion of the world.” Unfortunately, Jennings could not care less about the world, and only wants to reunite Rachel and Franklin, “two young people who love each other.”

On June 20, Jennings writes that Franklin’s condition is starting to approximate “his continued restlessness” at the time of the Diamond’s theft, and also that Sergeant Cuff wrote to Franklin from Ireland. Cuff has written that, if he “made any serious mistake” in his initial investigation, he will return to correct it, but that otherwise he hopes “to remain in his retirement” with his roses. Jennings asks Franklin to offer Cuff all the relevant details of the last year and to ask the Sergeant to serve as another witness during “the experiment.”

Jennings and Franklin then visit the Verinder house, where Betteredge is directing the renovations, which may not be going quickly enough. Betteredge stops Jennings on his way out to offer some insight from Robinson Crusoe. Torn between his private reservations about the doctor’s “hocus-pocus” and his official orders to arrange for it, Betteredge explains, he opened the book the previous night and came upon a passage that declared he should always follow “the secret Dictate” in his heart. When Jennings says his conviction in his experiment is not “at all shaken,” Betteredge laments Jennings’s lack of familiarity with Robinson Crusoe and sees him out. Franklin tells Jennings that, by revealing that he fails to “believe in Robinson Crusoe,” he has “fallen to the lowest possible place in Betteredge’s estimation.”

On June 21, Jennings writes that Franklin’s condition has worsened and he has been forced to prescribe medicine. And Jennings has returned to his opium—“five hundred drops,” his usual dose.

On June 22, Jennings writes that both he and Franklin are feeling much better, and that the house is nearly ready. As witnesses, he has secured Mr. Bruff and Sergeant Cuff, in addition to Rachel and Betteredge (and maybe Mrs. Merridew).

On June 23, Jennings and Franklin feel worse again, and Franklin nearly returns to smoking—but throws the key to his cigar-drawer out the window instead. On June 24, Jennings writes that Franklin was “over-wrought [and] over-excited” in the morning, but improved after a carriage ride.

On June 25, Jennings writes excitedly after arriving at the Verinder house, it is finally time for his “experiment.” Blake is “in a state of nervous sensitiveness” worsened by his sleep deprivation, and Jennings is eager to see whether the conditions have been replicated closely enough for the experiment to work. He plans to write in his journal to keep a record throughout the day. In the morning, he notes, a letter arrived confirming Rachel and Mrs. Merridew were setting out for Yorkshire. Betteredge is “in his best black suit, and his stiffest white cravat,” but still disappointed in Jennings’s lack of acquaintance with Robinson Crusoe. Bruff has reluctantly agreed to come, as well, and “nothing has been heard of Sergeant Cuff.”

At 7:00 in the evening, Jennings writes that he has tried to bring Franklin Blake back to his previous routine, with “a pleasant stroll in the shrubbery” and plans to eat dinner at the exact same time as the night of the Moonstone’s disappearance, so that Franklin can have digested to the same extent when he takes the laudanum at night. Jennings hopes to bring up the Moonstone after dinner and before slipping Franklin the medicine.

At 8:30 PM, Jennings writes that he has visited the medicine cabinet to prepare the dose of Laudanum, and decided to increase this dose: the amount Mr. Candy stated he gave Franklin Blake was unlikely to create symptoms, and so Jennings is convinced Mr. Candy measured wrongly. Upping the dose also allows him to counteract the fact that Franklin knows he will be drugged.

At 10:00 PM, Jennings writes that “the witnesses” arrived an hour before, and he brought Franklin to his bedroom to ensure it was appropriately replicated. Bruff arrives and is clearly skeptical of Jennings. They agree that Franklin will not know about Rachel and Mrs. Merridew’s presence until after the experiment.

Then, Jennings meets Rachel, who declares she is delighted to see him, despite his “ugly wrinkled face.” She asks him a series of rapid-fire questions and proclaims her love for Franklin. Jennings promises her that she needs only repeat the same words to Franklin to win him back.

Next, Jennings meets with the harrowed and anxious Mrs. Merridew, who asks if (like all the science experiments she remembers from school) Jennings’s experiment will “end in an explosion.” In fact, she is already convinced of this, “resigned to the explosion,” and simply asks that it not happen once she is already asleep.

At once, Betteredge arrives, declaring that Franklin wishes to speak with Jennings, and he tells Rachel to tell Mrs. Merridew that the explosion is planned for the following morning. Jennings goes inside and finds Franklin agitated in his room, asking for Bruff, who is busy working in the next room. Franklin asks when it is time for his laudanum, and Jennings implores him to wait, since he knows that Mr. Candy must have originally given Franklin the drugs sometime around 11:00. Jennings and Franklin briefly chat, and then Jennings leaves to prepare the laudanum.

Jennings notes that the weather is calm, as on the night of the Diamond’s theft, and Betteredge brings Jennings a letter from Rachel, who wishes to watch Jennings prepare the laudanum. Betteredge is surprised and suspicious when Jennings asks him to bring the medicine-chest to Rachel’s sitting-room. Jennings also asks Bruff “to be present” for the preparation of the laudanum and then to wait in Franklin Blake’s room. (He agrees, as long as he gets to continue working with his papers.) Franklin calls over from the next room to insult Bruff’s indifference.

Betteredge, Bruff, and Jennings meet Rachel in her sitting-room. Rachel agrees to replicate everything exactly like the year before, and requests to help Jennings make Franklin’s water with laudanum. She kisses the glass and tells Jennings to “give it to him on that side!” She puts “the piece of crystal which was to represent the Diamond” in her cabinet and turns out her lights; Jennings gives Franklin his laudanum and puts him to bed. Jennings, Betteredge, and Bruff sit behind curtains in the same room—the suspicious witnesses grow intrigued and anxious to see what will happen.

Franklin Blake is restless and worries that the opium is not yet taking effect. Jennings decides to distract him by talking about the Diamond, referring to the last year’s events in detail to “fill his mind” with the subject. In the minutes before midnight, Jennings notices the laudanum begin to take effect, and he signals to Bruff and Betteredge that they should remove their boots, in case they need to follow Franklin.

After a few minutes, Franklin starts muttering to himself, “I wish I had never taken it out of the bank.” He gets out of bed and continues talking about the Diamond—“anybody might take it […] the Indians may be hidden in the house.” And then, suddenly, Franklin gets back into bed—and back out again. He brings a candle and walks out of his room, down the corridors, to Rachel’s sitting-room. The witnesses watch from a crack in the door hinge as Franklin goes into Rachel’s darkened room and takes out the imitation Diamond. Jennings hopes that Franklin’s next actions might reveal what happened to the Diamond. Franklin stumbles over to Rachel’s sofa and lays down on it, drops the Diamond on the floor, and falls asleep. Jennings declares the experiment over.

With Franklin Blake fast asleep, the witnesses begin to talk about what they should do with him. Rachel suggests they merely let him sleep there, and they agree. They also agree with Jennings that the experiment proves Franklin did take the Diamond, unwittingly, the year before. But the experiment’s second purpose—to find out what did happen to the Diamond—was not achieved. And Jennings is not surprised, since perfectly reproducing the conditions from the year before would have been impossible, and he may have given Franklin too much laudanum. Bruff and Betteredge both admit that they were wrong to doubt Jennings, and admit that the experiment has proven that Franklin took the Diamond.

Bruff asks how they might figure out where the Diamond is now, and notes that he is still planning to follow Mr. Luker when he retrieves it from the bank sometime the same month. He insists Franklin Blake follow him to London, and Jennings agrees to help convince him.

Rachel comes out of her room to watch Franklin, which she does attentively all night. Jennings remembers his own love and loss in his youth, and writes the present long entry in his journal. After briefly taking leave to suffer a withdrawal attack in the morning, Jennings returns to find Rachel kissing Franklin on the forehead. Around 8:00 AM, she is positioned so that “when [Franklin’s] eyes first open, they must open on her face.” And by 11:00 AM, everyone has returned to London but Jennings, who declares that his “brief dream of happiness is over” and prepares to return to his “friendless and lonely life.” But he is grateful to have played a part in reuniting Rachel and Franklin, and looks forward to their wedding.