The Moonstone cover

The Moonstone

Wilkie Collins (1824-1889)

Original en 194769 words First published 1868 United Kingdom

T. S. Eliot called it 'the first, the longest, and the best of modern English detective novels'. On her eighteenth birthday, Rachel Verinder is given a great yellow diamond looted from an Indian shrine; by morning it has vanished from her bedroom. The tale is told by turns — by the old house-steward Betteredge and his beloved Robinson Crusoe, by a pious spinster, by a dying physician, by the policeman Sergeant Cuff — as suspicion travels through the household and back across the sea to India. Collins, Dickens's friend and collaborator, assembled here the whole machinery of the detective story: the chain of clues, the professional sleuth, and a puzzle the reader is invited to solve.

Text sourced from Project Gutenberg (public domain in the United States); the Project Gutenberg trademark and license text have been removed on import. Public-domain status determined by the author's death year + 50 years rule.

Table of Contents

  1. 001 I address these lines—written in India—to my relatives in England. 2613 words
  2. 002 In those terms I was informed of what my personal concern was with… 2554 words
  3. 003 Beginning, then, on Penelope’s plan, I beg to mention that I was… 2558 words
  4. 004 CHAPTER IV I am truly sorry to detain you over me and my beehive chair. 2685 words
  5. 005 I looked where she pointed. 2552 words
  6. 006 About two years before the time of which I am now writing, and about… 2666 words
  7. 007 “Then you do believe, sir,” I said, “that there was a conspiracy?”… 2545 words
  8. 008 “Isn’t it your business, sir,” I asked, “to know what to do next? 2512 words
  9. 009 Whether the jugglers heard, in the town, of Mr. 2639 words
  10. 010 On the fourteenth, came Mr. 2503 words
  11. 011 There stood Miss Rachel at the table, like a person fascinated, with… 2620 words
  12. 012 “They have got some remarkably fine skeletons lately at the College of Surgeons,” says Mr. 2511 words
  13. 013 Here I struck in. This sort of thing didn’t at all square with my… 2500 words
  14. 014 “The Diamond is gone!” Having said those words, she withdrew into her… 2614 words
  15. 015 Mr. Superintendent next asked to see Miss Rachel herself. Penelope… 2654 words
  16. 016 I could not bring myself to tell him the girl’s story, even then. 2520 words
  17. 017 “You seem to be fond of roses, Sergeant?” I remarked. 2653 words
  18. 018 The Sergeant’s next proceeding was to question me about any large… 2500 words
  19. 019 After that answer, my lady rose to go upstairs, and ask for Miss Rachel’s keys. 2502 words
  20. 020 Left alone, under those circumstances, a devouring curiosity pushed… 2610 words
  21. 021 The last of the evening light was fading away; and over all the… 2563 words
  22. 022 “There!” says she. “When Rosanna came in this evening, she bought the… 2521 words
  23. 023 He curled up at the corners of his lips, and, in his own dreary way… 2535 words
  24. 024 Inquiry at the servants’ offices informed me that Rosanna had retired to her own room. 2510 words
  25. 025 “Mr. Franklin is very kind and considerate. Please to thank him.”… 2521 words
  26. 026 I said nothing. I only held on like death to my belief in Miss… 2547 words
  27. 027 After that testimony from a man whose knowledge was to be relied on… 2525 words
  28. 028 She turned to me, and gave me her hand. 2501 words
  29. 029 “I shall next,” answered the Sergeant, “request your ladyship’s leave… 2533 words
  30. 030 “The confidence which my daughter has placed in me goes no further than this. 2692 words
  31. 031 It was dull and dreary enough, when the long summer evening closed… 2699 words
  32. 032 On Friday, nothing happened—except that one of the dogs showed signs… 2516 words
  33. 033 Living in my present isolation, I have no means of introducing the… 2509 words
  34. 034 Luncheon over, my aunt said: “Remember what the doctor told you… 2518 words
  35. 035 As the name of the Indian Diamond passed her lips, I saw a change… 2826 words
  36. 036 Sorrow and sympathy! Oh, what Pagan emotions to expect from a… 2508 words
  37. 037 “Before I was so fortunate, sir, as to convince you of Mr. 2567 words
  38. 038 When I folded up my things that night—when I reflected on the _true_… 2544 words
  39. 039 “It’s hard to get over one’s bad habits, Godfrey. 2546 words
  40. 040 “Miss Rachel!” he called out, “where are you, Miss Rachel?” She… 2507 words
  41. 041 “There are degrees in happiness, darling. 2503 words
  42. 042 He led me to a chair. I have an indistinct remembrance that he was… 2516 words
  43. 043 “Mr. Ablewhite, I have either expressed myself very badly, or you are… 2514 words
  44. 044 “Stop!” I said—“stop! I must be heard. Mr. Bruff! you are not related… 2519 words
  45. 045 He smiled resignedly, and gave up the name of his client: Mr. 2578 words
  46. 046 I had a restless night, considering what I ought to do next. 2562 words
  47. 047 “Is it possible that you don’t see his motive, Mr. 2560 words
  48. 048 The inference (as I hastened to acknowledge) was too plain to need being pointed out. 2524 words
  49. 049 “I shall take up the inquiry again,” I went on, “at the point where I… 2531 words
  50. 050 Those words evidently put the case before him, as he had not seen it yet. 2559 words
  51. 051 The turn of the tide came, before my cigar was finished. 2535 words
  52. 052 “I went back to the house, and wrote your name and mine in my… 2521 words
  53. 053 “But the bare thought that _you_ had let yourself down to my level… 2517 words
  54. 054 “He looked at me as if I was a stranger, when I handed him the… 2510 words
  55. 055 “ROSANNA SPEARMAN.” The reading of the letter was completed by Betteredge in silence. 2559 words
  56. 056 I started, in ungovernable agitation, to my feet. 2504 words
  57. 057 “If you will not speak first,” I said, “I must. 2505 words
  58. 058 She broke in on me with a cry of fury. 2702 words
  59. 059 “Surely you forget,” I said, “that the whole thing is essentially a… 2581 words
  60. 060 As some compensation for this second matrimonial disaster, Godfrey… 2514 words
  61. 061 “It is almost a miracle,” said Ezra Jennings, “that he lived through… 2590 words
  62. 062 “Not a doubt of it!” I answered. 2548 words
  63. 063 I had but one answer to make to that appeal. 2502 words
  64. 064 I turned to the second sheet of paper, which I now knew to be the key to the first. 2529 words
  65. 065 It was my turn, now, to enlighten Ezra Jennings. 2573 words
  66. 066 And yet, knowing this, I cannot find it in my heart to disappoint her. 2532 words
  67. 067 Mrs. Merridew presents her compliments, and does not pretend to… 2522 words
  68. 068 Have I omitted anything, thus far? 2536 words
  69. 069 “When are you going to give me the laudanum?” asked Mr. 2526 words
  70. 070 They both started back, on finding that I was looking at them, like… 2510 words
  71. 071 She drew a chair to the foot of the sofa. 2550 words
  72. 072 We dined at Mr. Bruff’s chambers. Before the cloth was removed, “a… 2561 words
  73. 073 “What did he see in the eating-house?” I asked. 2501 words
  74. 074 The Sergeant suddenly burst his way through the people about him, and… 2526 words
  75. 075 Mr. Godfrey Ablewhite had two modest proposals to make, in relation… 2500 words
  76. 076 As I have told you, for six hours before his death his sufferings ceased. 2566 words
  77. 077 Looking back down the hill, the view presented the grandest spectacle… 684 words