He came back to you. You looked at him in a dull sleepy way. You put the

Diamond into his hand. You said to him, "Take it back, Godfrey, to your

father's bank. It's safe there--it's not safe here." You turned away

unsteadily, and put on your dressing-gown. You sat down in the large

arm-chair in your room. You said, "I can't take it back to the bank. My

head's like lead--and I can't feel my feet under me." Your head sank on

the back of the chair--you heaved a heavy sigh--and you fell asleep.

Mr. Godfrey Ablewhite went back, with the Diamond, into his own room.

His statement is, that he came to no conclusion, at that time--except

that he would wait, and see what happened in the morning.

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When the morning came, your language and conduct showed that you were

absolutely ignorant of what you had said and done overnight. At the same

time, Miss Verinder's language and conduct showed that she was resolved

to say nothing (in mercy to you) on her side. If Mr. Godfrey Ablewhite

chose to keep the Diamond, he might do so with perfect impunity. The

Moonstone stood between him and ruin. He put the Moonstone into his

pocket.

CHAPTER Second Period Sixth Narrative - Chapter V This was the story told by your cousin (under pressure of necessity) to

Mr. Luker.

Mr. Luker believed the story to be, as to all main essentials, true--on

this ground, that Mr. Godfrey Ablewhite was too great a fool to have

invented it. Mr. Bruff and I agree with Mr. Luker, in considering this

test of the truth of the story to be a perfectly reliable one.

The next question, was the question of what Mr. Luker would do in the

matter of the Moonstone. He proposed the following terms, as the only

terms on which he would consent to mix himself up with, what was (even

in HIS line of business) a doubtful and dangerous transaction.

Mr. Luker would consent to lend Mr. Godfrey Ablewhite the sum of two

thousand pounds, on condition that the Moonstone was to be deposited

with him as a pledge. If, at the expiration of one year from that date,

Mr. Godfrey Ablewhite paid three thousand pounds to Mr. Luker, he was to

receive back the Diamond, as a pledge redeemed. If he failed to produce

the money at the expiration of the year, the pledge (otherwise the

Moonstone) was to be considered as forfeited to Mr. Luker--who would,

in this latter case, generously make Mr. Godfrey a present of certain

promissory notes of his (relating to former dealings) which were then in

the money-lender's possession.




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