The Moonstone: The Loss of the Diamond: 15 Summary & Analysis

As Betteredge and Cuff approach the Shivering Sand, Cuff explains that Betteredge need not defend Rosanna, who “is not in the slightest danger of getting into trouble” because, if involved in the theft, she was “simply an instrument in the hands of another person.” Betteredge and Cuff both ask one another if they know who this person might be. Cuff then asks if Rosanna bought any new linen clothes recently, and Betteredge admits that she has. Cuff laments the misery of human life and explains his theory: Rosanna discovered the paint-stain on her gown and made herself a new one by firelight in the night. But Cuff decided to let her go and follow her to the sea rather than “give the alarm […] to a certain person who shall be nameless between us.” He hopes the sands will reveal where she has gone.

As Cuff investigates, Betteredge remembers meeting Rosanna at the same place on the Shivering Sand a month earlier. The sun sets and everything but the quicksand falls still; Cuff declares there are no signs of Rosanna, whom he saw earlier that day walking north from the nearby village of Cobb’s Hole. On their way, they encounter a number of discordant footprints pointing in all directions, which Cuff sees as proof of Rosanna trying to cover her tracks and hide her true direction. He suggests they visit the cottage of Rosanna’s friends in Cobb’s Hole, a family Betteredge recognizes as the Yollands and which makes Betteredge think that Rosanna was merely taking her usual walk, rather than doing something sinister.

When they arrive at the Yollands’ cottage, Cuff and Betteredge meet Mrs. Yolland, who offers them gin and a pipe. Cuff embarks on a long monologue and eventually arrives at the matter of Rosanna, whom he claims to be defending, while Betteredge watches the performance tacitly. On his way out, Cuff proclaims that Rosanna should leave her job, and Mrs. Yolland enthusiastically agrees in her thick “Yorkshire language,” proclaiming that “she is going to leave it!” Betteredge grows confused and “smell[s] mischief in the air,” so decides to get Cuff out—but Cuff sits right down and continues talking to Mrs. Yolland, who admits that Rosanna had come that day to write a lengthy letter to a friend, outside the purview of the other servants. Mrs. Yolland sees this as proof that Rosanna “has got [a friend] somewhere” and will be leaving to join them “as soon as she can.”

Betteredge interjects to insist that Rosanna would have told him if she were planning to travel, but Mrs. Yolland insists that Rosanna already “bought some things she wanted for travelling” and gives Cuff some money that she wants refunded to Rosanna for a small tin case and some chains Rosanna had insisted on paying for. Unwilling to help Cuff incriminate Rosanna, Betteredge tries again and again to leave, but Cuff continues talking with Mrs. Yolland about the money, which he convinces her to take back.

Finally, Cuff and Betteredge go outside, and Cuff admits that he is “puzzled” by Mrs. Yolland. However, he finds it “clear enough” that Rosanna is hiding something in the tin case, sinking it somewhere under the water or quicksand, and leaving the chain available to pull it up in the future. However, Cuff thinks it cannot be the Diamond. And yet this makes no sense: if Rosanna were, say, trying to get rid of her stained dress, she could just drop it in the quicksand from which nothing has ever emerged. Cuff wants to go to Frizinghall and figure out what Rosanna bought for her new dress, but also feels he should stay at the house. Rosanna, too, he admits, “puzzle[s]” him.

When they return to the house, Cuff stares at Rachel’s room from outside. He sees “lights […] passing backwards and forwards” and seems to make “another discovery.” He tells Betteredge that Rachel has likely “resolved to leave the house […] within the last hour.” When they enter, Cuff is proven right: Rosanna has just returned, and Julia has been waiting to speak with Cuff for an hour. Betteredge is flabbergasted at Cuff’s incredible predictions—and then Cuff declares that he expects “scandal” that night.