Summary
Sergeant Cuff addresses a report to Franklin, revealing that the three Indians killed Godfrey that night after discovering where he was staying with the Diamond. Godfrey had been taking the Diamond out to Amsterdam to have it cut up, and to collect the money.
Godfrey’s motives for taking the Diamond concerned his double life: although entrusted to a trust fund for a young man, Godfrey had squandered the money entrusted to him. He was living a lavish and wasteful life outside of the public sphere where he appeared generous and gentlemanlike. His own father refused to lend him money. The night of the party, Mr. Candy entrusted the laudanum to Godfrey, who slipped it into the brandy he gave Franklin. That night, after Franklin took the Diamond under the influence of the opium, Godfrey (whose room was right next to Franklin’s), was kept away by his money troubles. He overheard Franklin talking to himself, and then realized that, beyond the practical joke, the laudanum was having additional effects. He followed Franklin, and when Franklin came back to his own room, he called Godfrey over and gave him the Diamond, telling him to put it in his father’s bank since it was not safe on the estate. Franklin then fell into a very heavy sleep. Godfrey pocketed the Moonstone instead. He told Luker the true story, and on his Continental vacation, made preparations (before redeeming the Diamond) in Amsterdam to have the stone cut up.
Cuff says there is still a chance of intercepting the Indians on their way to Bombay. He has communicated with the authorities there.
Analysis
Sergeant Cuff narrates his section of the story with the succinctness of a police report. It is divided into discrete parts. He tells it in a process analysis, matter-of-fact, step-by-step style. He details Godfrey Ablewhite’s double life, saving all of these details for this denouement, or resolution, section, post-climax of the great reveal of Godfrey’s identity. Even though Godfrey Ablewhite had the support of his family, even his father would not lend him money, given his son’s spending habits. From previous narratives, readers have seen that the Ablewhite family is not particularly supportive, anyways.
Sergeant Cuff’s final narrative departs some from the experiences of his real-life counterpart. While media rushed to restore Jack Whicher’s reputation after his suspect Constance Kent finally confessed, it was too late and the “prince of detectives” was still the owner of a broken reputation. At this point in The Moonstone, Cuff has retired, and is ready to resign to his rose-filled property.
