I address these lines⁠—written in India⁠—to my relatives in England. My object is to explain the motive which has induced me to refuse the right hand of friendship to my cousin, John Herncastle. The r...

I address these lines⁠—written in India⁠—to my relatives in England. My object is to explain the motive which has induced me to refuse the right hand of friendship to my cousin, John Herncastle. The r...

One of the wildest of these stories related to a Yellow Diamond⁠—a famous gem in the native annals of India. The earliest known traditions describe the stone as having been set in the forehead of the ...

So, as told in our camp, ran the fanciful story of the Moonstone. It made no serious impression on any of us except my cousin⁠—whose love of the marvellous induced him to believe it. On the night befo...

I beg it to be understood that what I write here about my cousin (unless some necessity should arise for making it public) is for the information of the family only. Herncastle has said nothing that c...

In the first part of Robinson Crusoe, at page one hundred and twenty-nine, you will find it thus written: “Now I saw, though too late, the Folly of beginning a Work before we count the Cost, and befor...

In the first part of Robinson Crusoe, at page one hundred and twenty-nine, you will find it thus written: “Now I saw, though too late, the Folly of beginning a Work before we count the Cost, and befor...

I spoke of my lady a line or two back. Now the Diamond could never have been in our house, where it was lost, if it had not been made a present of to my lady’s daughter; and my lady’s daughter would n...

The question of how I am to start the story properly I have tried to settle in two ways. First, by scratching my head, which led to nothing. Second, by consulting my daughter Penelope, which has resul...

I am truly sorry to detain you over me and my beehive chair. A sleepy old man, in a sunny back yard, is not an interesting object, I am well aware. But things must be put down in their places, as thin...

The first thing I did, after we were left together alone, was to make a third attempt to get up from my seat on the sand. Mr. Franklin stopped me. “There is one advantage about this horrid place,” he ...

Keeping my private sentiments to myself, I respectfully requested Mr. Franklin to go on. Mr. Franklin replied, “Don’t fidget, Betteredge,” and went on. Our young gentleman’s first words informed me th...

While I was in this bewildered frame of mind, sorely needing a little quiet time by myself to put me right again, my daughter Penelope got in my way (just as her late mother used to get in my way on t...

Here, for one moment, I find it necessary to call a halt. On summoning up my own recollections⁠—and on getting Penelope to help me, by consulting her journal⁠—I find that we may pass pretty rapidly ov...

June twenty-first, the day of the birthday, was cloudy and unsettled at sunrise, but towards noon it cleared up bravely. We, in the servants’ hall, began this happy anniversary, as usual, by offering ...

One on the top of the other the rest of the company followed the Ablewhites, till we had the whole tale of them complete. Including the family, they were twenty-four in all. It was a noble sight to se...

When the last of the guests had driven away, I went back into the inner hall and found Samuel at the side-table, presiding over the brandy and soda-water. My lady and Miss Rachel came out of the drawi...

The Thursday night passed, and nothing happened. With the Friday morning came two pieces of news. Item the first: the baker’s man declared he had met Rosanna Spearman, on the previous afternoon, with ...

I found my lady in her own sitting room. She started and looked annoyed when I mentioned that Sergeant Cuff wished to speak to her. “Must I see him?” she asked. “Can’t you represent me, Gabriel?” I fe...

The nearest way to the garden, on going out of my lady’s sitting-room, was by the shrubbery path, which you already know of. For the sake of your better understanding of what is now to come, I may add...

The Sergeant remained silent, thinking his own thoughts, till we entered the plantation of firs which led to the quicksand. There he roused himself, like a man whose mind was made up, and spoke to me ...

We found my lady with no light in the room but the reading-lamp. The shade was screwed down so as to overshadow her face. Instead of looking up at us in her usual straightforward way, she sat close at...

Nothing happened in the night; and (I am happy to add) no attempt at communication between Miss Rachel and Rosanna rewarded the vigilance of Sergeant Cuff. I had expected the Sergeant to set off for F...

Going down to the front door, I met the Sergeant on the steps. It went against the grain with me, after what had passed between us, to show him that I felt any sort of interest in his proceedings. In ...

The news of Rosanna’s disappearance had, as it appeared, spread among the out-of-door servants. They too had made their inquiries; and they had just laid hands on a quick little imp, nicknamed “Duffy”...

Those in front had spread the news before us. We found the servants in a state of panic. As we passed my lady’s door, it was thrown open violently from the inner side. My mistress came out among us (w...

The first words, when we had taken our seats, were spoken by my lady. “Sergeant Cuff,” she said, “there was perhaps some excuse for the inconsiderate manner in which I spoke to you half an hour since....

My mistress having left us, I had leisure to think of Sergeant Cuff. I found him sitting in a snug corner of the hall, consulting his memorandum book, and curling up viciously at the corners of the li...

I had kept the pony chaise ready, in case Mr. Franklin persisted in leaving us by the train that night. The appearance of the luggage, followed downstairs by Mr. Franklin himself, informed me plainly ...

I am indebted to my dear parents (both now in heaven) for having had habits of order and regularity instilled into me at a very early age. In that happy bygone time, I was taught to keep my hair tidy ...

I am indebted to my dear parents (both now in heaven) for having had habits of order and regularity instilled into me at a very early age. In that happy bygone time, I was taught to keep my hair tidy ...

I am indebted to my dear parents (both now in heaven) for having had habits of order and regularity instilled into me at a very early age. In that happy bygone time, I was taught to keep my hair tidy ...

Mr. Godfrey followed the announcement of his name⁠—as Mr. Godfrey does everything else⁠—exactly at the right time. He was not so close on the servant’s heels as to startle us. He was not so far behind...

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 sa...

The signing of the will was a much shorter matter than I had anticipated. It was hurried over, to my thinking, in indecent haste. Samuel, the footman, was sent for to act as second witness⁠—and the pe...

My hand dropped from the curtain. But don’t suppose⁠—oh, don’t suppose⁠—that the dreadful embarrassment of my situation was the uppermost idea in my mind! So fervent still was the sisterly interest I ...

(1.) “Miss Clack presents her compliments to Mr. Franklin Blake; and, in sending him the fifth chapter of her humble narrative, begs to say that she feels quite unequal to enlarge as she could wish on...

The foregoing correspondence will sufficiently explain why no choice is left to me but to pass over Lady Verinder’s death with the simple announcement of the fact which ends my fifth chapter. Keeping ...

“I have lost a beautiful girl, an excellent social position, and a handsome income,” Mr. Godfrey began; “and I have submitted to it without a struggle. What can be the motive for such extraordinary co...

My fair friend, Miss Clack, having laid down the pen, there are two reasons for my taking it up next, in my turn. In the first place, I am in a position to throw the necessary light on certain points ...

My fair friend, Miss Clack, having laid down the pen, there are two reasons for my taking it up next, in my turn. In the first place, I am in a position to throw the necessary light on certain points ...

The next thing I have to do, is to present such additional information as I possess on the subject of the Moonstone, or, to speak more correctly, on the subject of the Indian plot to steal the Diamond...

The prominent personage among the guests at the dinner party I found to be Mr. Murthwaite. On his appearance in England, after his wanderings, society had been greatly interested in the traveller, as ...

In the spring of the year eighteen hundred and forty-nine I was wandering in the East, and had then recently altered the travelling plans which I had laid out some months before, and which I had commu...

In the spring of the year eighteen hundred and forty-nine I was wandering in the East, and had then recently altered the travelling plans which I had laid out some months before, and which I had commu...

“Betteredge!” I said, pointing to the well-remembered book on his knee, “has Robinson Crusoe informed you, this evening, that you might expect to see Franklin Blake?” “By the lord Harry, Mr. Franklin!...

I have only the most indistinct recollection of what happened at Hotherstone’s farm. I remember a hearty welcome; a prodigious supper, which would have fed a whole village in the East; a delightfully ...

I have not a word to say about my own sensations. My impression is that the shock inflicted on me completely suspended my thinking and feeling power. I certainly could not have known what I was about ...

Having told me the name of Mr. Candy’s assistant, Betteredge appeared to think that we had wasted enough of our time on an insignificant subject. He resumed the perusal of Rosanna Spearman’s letter. O...

I walked to the railway station accompanied, it is needless to say, by Gabriel Betteredge. I had the letter in my pocket, and the nightgown safely packed in a little bag⁠—both to be submitted, before ...

At the moment when I showed myself in the doorway, Rachel rose from the piano. I closed the door behind me. We confronted each other in silence, with the full length of the room between us. The moveme...

Late that evening, I was surprised at my lodgings by a visit from Mr. Bruff. There was a noticeable change in the lawyer’s manner. It had lost its usual confidence and spirit. He shook hands with me, ...

The doctor’s pretty housemaid stood waiting for me, with the street door open in her hand. Pouring brightly into the hall, the morning light fell full on the face of Mr. Candy’s assistant when I turne...

How the interval of suspense in which I was now condemned might have affected other men in my position, I cannot pretend to say. The influence of the two hours’ probation upon my temperament was simpl...

1849.⁠—June 15.⁠ ⁠… With some interruption from patients, and some interruption from pain, I finished my letter to Miss Verinder in time for today’s post. I failed to make it as short a letter as I co...

But few words are needed, on my part, to complete the narrative that has been presented in the Journal of Ezra Jennings. Of myself, I have only to say that I awoke on the morning of the twenty-sixth, ...

Dorking, Surrey, July 30th, 1849. To Franklin Blake, Esq. Sir⁠—I beg to apologise for the delay that has occurred in the production of the report, with which I engaged to furnish you. I have waited to...

Dorking, Surrey, July 30th, 1849. To Franklin Blake, Esq. Sir⁠—I beg to apologise for the delay that has occurred in the production of the report, with which I engaged to furnish you. I have waited to...

As to your cousin’s death, then, first. It appears to be established, beyond any reasonable doubt, that he was killed (while he was asleep, or immediately on his waking) by being smothered with a pill...

With regard to the subject now in hand, I may state, at the outset, that Mr. Godfrey Ablewhite’s life had two sides to it. The side turned up to the public view, presented the spectacle of a gentleman...

Late on the evening of Friday, the twenty-third of June (’forty-eight), Mr. Luker was surprised by a visit from Mr. Godfrey Ablewhite. He was more than surprised, when Mr. Godfrey produced the Moonsto...

This was the story told by your cousin (under pressure of necessity) to Mr. Luker. Mr. Luker believed the story to be, as to all main essentials, true⁠—on this ground, that Mr. Godfrey Ablewhite was t...

Frizinghall, Wednesday, September 26th, 1849. Dear Mr. Franklin Blake, you will anticipate the sad news I have to tell you, on finding your letter to Ezra Jennings returned to you, unopened, in this e...

I am the person (as you remember no doubt) who led the way in these pages, and opened the story. I am also the person who is left behind, as it were, to close the story up. Let nobody suppose that I h...

On the twenty-seventh of June last, I received instructions from Sergeant Cuff to follow three men; suspected of murder, and described as Indians. They had been seen on the Tower Wharf that morning, e...

On the twenty-seventh of June last, I received instructions from Sergeant Cuff to follow three men; suspected of murder, and described as Indians. They had been seen on the Tower Wharf that morning, e...

I am requested by Sergeant Cuff to set in writing certain facts, concerning three men (believed to be Hindus) who were passengers, last summer, in the ship Bewley Castle, bound for Bombay direct, unde...

Have you any recollection, my dear sir, of a semi-savage person whom you met out at dinner, in London, in the autumn of ’forty-eight? Permit me to remind you that the person’s name was Murthwaite, and...

Note: Added by Franklin Blake⁠—Miss Clack may make her mind quite easy on this point. Nothing will be added, altered or removed, in her manuscript, or in any of the other manuscripts which pass throug...