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The Loss of the Diamond: 11
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Moonstone, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Detective Methods and Genre Standards
Intention, Identity, and Personality
Science and Religion
Gender and Victorian Morality
Class, Wealth, and Nobility
British Imperialism
Summary
Analysis
Betteredge notes that “two pieces of news” arrive the third day after the Diamond’s theft. First, “the baker’s man declared” that he saw Rosanna wearing a veil outside the previous day, even though Betteredge knows she was inside all day. Secondly, the postman brings news that Mr. Candy, the doctor, has fallen ill from traveling in the rain and was “talking nonsense,” which troubled the family because Rachel might have needed his medical help.
Rosanna’s veil suggests that, unless the baker’s man saw incorrectly, she was covering something up after the theft, and either way this gives the novel’s group of detectives cause to investigate. Mr. Candy’s illness plays no important role in the novel until much later, but it is worth mentioning that the Verinders’ house has turned from a normal estate into a charged environment, where every piece of information potentially points to the culprit and everything and everyone is under suspicion.
Themes
After breakfast, a third piece of news arrives: Sergeant Cuff from London, a “renowned and capable” detective, is coming to investigate the Diamond’s disappearance. Betteredge is astonished to meet “a grizzled, elderly man” who looks more like an undertaker than a police officer. Cuff does not even mention the theft to Betteredge, but instead advises him at length about the estate’s rose garden and discusses his plan to keep one of his own after retirement.
Cuff does not exude authority—like Franklin and Betteredge, he is far from the traditional masculine hero, but this may be associated with his wits and investigative skills. Nevertheless, his initial uninterest in the case is also surprising given his job, and his fascination with the roses warns that he might not be as serious as he is reputed to be.
Themes
When Julia comes out, Cuff inquires about the previous investigation and asks to speak with Seegrave. After they chat, Seegrave emerges as an eager assistant to the weary and suspicious Cuff, who proceeds to ask Betteredge a series of confusing questions as they walk through Rachel’s room. He dwells on the smear on Rachel’s door, which he considers a crucial piece of evidence. After talking with Franklin, he confirms that the paint must have been smeared before 3:00 AM the night of the theft, not the day after, as the family thought. Suddenly, Rachel emerges, and Cuff asks her about the paint smear next—but rather than answering his inquiry, she asks him who he is, and then insists he “don’t allow Mr. Franklin Blake to help” in his investigation. She insists she knows nothing about the smear, locks herself back in her room, and begins crying loudly.
Cuff’s takeover is another event that becomes a trope in later detective fiction: the famous, brilliant, eccentric officer puts the local detective in his place. Cuff’s realization about the paint smear is also a trope: the whole case comes to revolve around an otherwise inconsequential, miniscule detail that everyone else missed. Betteredge’s inability to guess Cuff’s intentions suggests that Cuff’s unorthodox methods work by gently coaxing information out of his witnesses (unlike Seegrave, who alienated Rachel and the servants with his confrontational approach).
Themes
Cuff seems to have gleaned new insight from Rachel’s reaction. Turning back to the paint, he asks to speak to Penelope, whom he thinks may have been the last to see it before the smear. Recognizing that Seegrave alienated the servants, he asks Betteredge to explain to the servants that there is “no evidence […] that the Diamond has been stolen” rather than lost, and that their job is merely to “lay their heads together and help [Cuff] find it.” Betteredge confirms that he can also let the woman servants freely wander the house, rather than keeping them confined in their rooms (as Seegrave had done). Betteredge transmits the message.
Cuff quickly gets Betteredge on his good side, turning him and his unparalleled access to all the house’s members into a valuable tool in his information-gathering quest—even though Cuff is about to question Betteredge’s daughter, whom Seegrave suspects of the crime. By sticking exclusively to provable facts—the Diamond is gone, but it may not have been stolen—Cuff also embodies the theory of evidence at the heart of the novel and the detective genre.
Themes
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Cuff interviews Penelope, who claims to have seen the paint unsmeared at midnight and proves there is no smear on the dress she was wearing that night. Betteredge confirms that the dogs could not be responsible, and so Cuff determines “that somebody […] must have been in the room, and done the mischief, between midnight and three o’clock on the Thursday morning.” He announces that his next order of business is to search for a smeared dress, and he sends Seegrave—who is still convinced the paint is irrelevant—back to Frizinghall. After a period of deep thought, Cuff asks to speak to Rachel, and then tells Franklin, “Nobody has stolen the Diamond.” “The pieces of the puzzle,” he suggests, will come together soon enough.
While the useless Seegrave based his investigation on guesswork and judgments of credibility, Cuff focuses primarily on the physical evidence, which allows him to narrow down precisely when the crime occurred. His apparent intuitions seem to come out of nowhere—owing to his ostensibly superior reasoning abilities. However, it is also important to consider whether Cuff sincerely believes that “Nobody has stolen the Diamond” or is only saying this to influence Franklin.
Themes
