"The Moonstone" — "Second period. The Discovery of the Truth. (1848-1849.) First Narrative. Contributed by Miss Clack; niece of the late Sir John Verinder," Ch. VI: Uncaptioned headnote vignette — Rachel Verinder at the window. (2 May 1868) (original) (raw)

xxx xxx

[Rachel Verinder at the window in Brighton]— "Second period. The Discovery of the Truth. (1848-1849.) First Narrative. Contributed by Miss Clack; niece of the late Sir John Verinder." Chapter 7. The initial illustration for the eighteenth instalment in Harper's Weekly(2 May 1868), page 277. Wood-engraving, 8.4 x 5.4 cm (3 ⅜ by 2 ¼ inches). In an effort to avoid painful associations with her mother's death at the mansion in Montagu Square, through Godfrey Ablewhite's father Rachel acquires a lease on a house overlooking the beach at the popular seaside resort of Brighton, where she often stands listlessly at the window, regarding the passersby and communing with herself.]

Passage Suggested by the Headnote Vignette for the Seventeenth Instalment

My aunt caught me by the hand, and whispered, "Stand between us for a minute or two. Don't let Rachel see me." I noticed a bluish tinge in her face which alarmed me. She saw I was startled. "The drops will put me right in a minute or two," she said, and so closed her eyes, and waited a little.

While this was going on, I heard dear Mr. Godfrey still gently remonstrating.

"You must not appear publicly in such a thing as this," he said. "_Your_​reputation, dearest Rachel, is something too pure and too sacred to be trifled with."

"My reputation!" She burst out laughing. "Why, I am accused, Godfrey, as well as you. The best detective officer in England declares that I have stolen my own Diamond. Ask him what he thinks — and he will tell you that I have pledged the Moonstone to pay my private debts!" She stopped, ran across the room — and fell on her knees at her mother's feet. "Oh mamma! mamma! mamma! I must be mad — mustn't I? — not to own the truth now?" She was too vehement to notice her mother's condition — she was on her feet again, and back with Mr. Godfrey, in an instant. "I won't let you — I won't let any innocent man — be accused and disgraced through my fault. If you won't take me before the magistrate, draw out a declaration of your innocence on paper, and I will sign it. Do as I tell you, Godfrey, or I'll write it to the newspapers I'll go out, and cry it in the streets!"​ — ​"Second period. The Discovery of the Truth. (1848-1849.) First Narrative. Contributed by Miss Clack; niece of the late Sir John Verinder. Chapter II." 11 April 1868: p. 230.

Commentary

Having already mugged the pawnbroker, Septimus Luker, the Indians know where the Moonstone is lodged, and who is likely to redeem it, for they have his banker's receipt for a gem (undoubtedly the Moonstone). Now they know that Godfrey Abelwhite does not have the jewel, but they are reasonably sure as to when he will attempt to redeem it. Already the rumour is abroad that Godfrey has stolen the Moonstone, and Rachel believes that she should exonerate him by revealing who has taken it. But all of this is too much for her mother, who is evidently quite ill, as the illustration indicates by her thin face and gaunt form. This is not the same animated aristocrat who recently gave Sergeant Cuff his marching orders. The object of Miss Clack's adoring glance, Godfrey Ablewhite (but lately mugged by the three Indians in Northumberland Street) is, despite his ordeal, unchanged: large, blonde, and solicitous. The genuine sympathy and concern expressed for Lady Julia Verinder by her daughter foreshadow Lady Julia's death. And by themselves the illustration and the caption suggest that Rachel is indeed the thief, and that she is about to confess as much to her distressed mother. Godfrey, meanwhile, tries to read both of his wealthy cousins, even as Miss Clack reads purely Christian motives into his rushing over to Lady Julia and her daughter. Were he so fortunate as to marry Rachel, then all of her property, including the Moonstone would be his, and he would therefore no longer be a thief, but a husband exercising control over his wife's estate.

Scanned images and text by Philip V. Allingham. You may use these images without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the person who scanned the image and (2) link your document to this URL or cite the Victorian Web in a print one. The illustrations appear here by courtesy of the E. J. Pratt Fine Arts Library, University of Toronto, and the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, University of British Columbia. [Click on the images to enlarge them.]

Bibliography

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________. The Moonstone: A Romance. All the Year Round. 1 January-8 August 1868.

_________. The Moonstone: A Novel. With many illustrations. First edition. New York & London: Harper and Brothers, [July] 1868.

_________. The Moonstone: A Novel. With 19 illustrations. Second edition. New York & London: Harper and Brothers, 1874.

_________. The Moonstone: A Romance. Illustrated by George Du Maurier and F. A. Fraser. London: Chatto and Windus, 1890.

_________. The Moonstone, Parts One and Two. The Works of Wilkie Collins, vols. 5 and 6. New York: Peter Fenelon Collier, 1900.

_________. The Moonstone: A Romance. With four illustrations by John Sloan. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1908.

_________. The Moonstone: A Romance. Illustrated by A. S. Pearse. London & Glasgow: Collins, 1910, rpt. 1930.

_________. The Moonstone. Illustrated by William Sharp. New York: Doubleday, 1946.

_________. The Moonstone: A Romance. With nine illustrations by Edwin La Dell. London: Folio Society, 1951.

Farmer, Steve. "Introduction" to Wilkie Collins's The Moonstone. Peterborough, ON: Broadview, 1999. Pp. 8-34.

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Leighton, Mary Elizabeth, and Lisa Surridge. "The Transatlantic Moonstone: A Study of the Illustrated Serial in Harper's Weekly." Victorian Periodicals Review Volume 42, Number 3 (Fall 2009): pp. 207-243.

Lonoff, Sue. Chapter 7: "The Moonstone and Its Audience." Wilkie Collins and His Readers: A Study in the Rhetoric of Authorship. New York: AMS Studies in the Nineteenth Century, 1982. Pp. 170-227.

Nayder, Lillian. Unequal Partners: Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins, & Victorian Authorship. London and Ithaca, NY: Cornll U. P., 2001.

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Reed, John R. "English Imperialism and the Unacknowledged crime of The Moonstone. Clio 2, 3 (June, 1973): 281-290.

Robinson, Kenneth. "Chapter 12: 'The Moonstone'." Wilkie Collins: A Biography London: The Bodley Head, 1951. Pp. 200-224.

Stewart, J. I. M. "A Note on Sources." Wilkie Collins's The Moonstone. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1966, rpt. 1973. Pp. 527-8.

Vann, J. Don. "The Moonstone in All the Year Round, 4 January-8 1868." Victorian Novels in Serial. New York: Modern Language Association, 1985. Pp. 48-50.

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Created 11 September 2016

Last updated 5 November 2025