THE MOONSTONE.

BY THE AUTHOR OF "THE WOMAN IN WHITE," &c. &c.

SECOND PERIOD. THE DISCOVERY OF THE
TRUTH. (1848—849.)
SIXTH NARRATIVE.
Contributed by Sergeant Cuff.

I.

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 make it a
complete Report; and I have been met, here and
there, by obstacles which it was only possible
to remove by some little expenditure of patience
and time.

The object which I proposed to myself has
now, I hope, been attained. You will find, in
these pages, answers to the greater part—if not
all—of the questions, concerning the late Mr.
Godfrey Ablewhite, which occurred to your mind
when I last had the honour of seeing you.

I propose to tell you—in the first place—
what is known of the manner in which your
cousin met his death; appending to the statement
such inferences and conclusions as we
are justified (according to my opinion) in drawing
from the facts.

I shall then endeavour—in the second place
—to put you in possession of such discoveries
as I have made, respecting the proceedings of
Mr. Godfrey Ablewhite, before, during, and
after the time, when you and he met as guests
at the late Lady Verinder's country house.

II.

As to your cousin's death, then, first.

It appears to me 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 pillow from his bed—
that the persons guilty of murdering him are
the three Indians—and that the object
contemplated (and achieved) by the crime, was to
obtain possession of the diamond, called The
Moonstone.

The facts from which this conclusion is
drawn, are derived partly from an examination
of the room at the tavern; and partly from the
evidence obtained at the Coroner's Inquest.

On forcing the door of the room, the
deceased gentleman was discovered, dead, with
the pillow of the bed over his face. The medical
man who examined him, being informed of this
circumstance, considered the post-mortem
appearances as being perfectly compatible with
murder by smothering—that is to say, with
murder committed by some person, or persons,
pressing the pillow over the nose and mouth of
the deceased, until death resulted from congestion
of the lungs.

Next, as to the motive for the crime.

A small box, with a sealed paper torn off
from it (the paper containing an inscription)
was found open, and empty, on a table in the
room. Mr. Luker has himself personally
identified the box, the seal, and the inscription. He
has declared that the box did actually contain
the diamond, called the Moonstone; and he
has admitted having given the box (thus sealed
up) to Mr. Godfrey Ablewhite (then concealed
under a disguise), on the afternoon of the
twenty-sixth of June last. The fair inference
from all this is, that the stealing of the
Moonstone was the motive of the crime.

Next, as to the manner in which the crime
was committed.

On examination of the room (which is only
seven feet high), a trap-door in the ceiling,
leading out on to the roof of the house, was
discovered open. The short ladder, used for
obtaining access to the trap-door (and kept
under the bed), was found placed at the opening,
so as to enable any person, or persons, in
the room, to leave it again easily. In the trap-
door itself was found a square aperture cut in
the wood, apparently with some exceedingly
sharp instrument, just behind the bolt which
fastened the door on the inner side. In this
way, any person from the outside could have
drawn back the bolt, and opened the door, and
have dropped (or have been noiselessly lowered
by an accomplice) into the room—its height, as
already observed, being only seven feet. That
some person, or persons, must have got admission
in this way, appears evident from the fact
of the aperture being there. As to the manner
in which he (or they) obtained access to the
roof of the tavern, it is to be remarked that the
third house, lower down in the street, was
empty, and under repair—that a long ladder
was left by the workmen, leading from the
pavement to the top of the house—and that,