Do what? How suspenseful.

She is incredibly earnest and devout. This is potentially the first DOS attack in history.

It is because he likes Rachel and wants to spend time with her.

Clack is the master of suspiciously specific denials.

Once again, she says she doesn't say something right after she blatantly does.

She mentioned her childhood routine included the Evening Hymn so her childhood seems to be represented by it. It would be interesting to look at how the Evening Hymn plays through the narrative.

Ironic because the subject is Satan among the sofa cushions. By doing this, she is implying the book is the "Satan".

Sofa cushions are so mundane, her obsession seems comical. Like Betteredge with his Robinson Crusoe, she seems to be a parody of fanatic faith.

Why did he behave in such a way after seeing Clack sit there with her bag?

It is interesting to me when we were in Betteredge's perspective, he tries his best not to suspect anyone and everyone ended up looking suspicious. Here in Clack's perspective, she suspects most everyone and as a result, everyone looks innocent. Who stole the Diamond? "It baffles me; it baffles you; it baffles everybody."

I completely agree. I have no idea who stole the diamond!

I like how the "public" is the reader, in a way, and what the author expects us to think is reflected by public opinion. As this was serialized in a newspaper (or something similar) at the time, the reader would've likely felt much more engaged and included in the tale than otherwise.

I read this exact same line in a Korean webcomic in a fantasy kingdom based on Europe. In that line, the lady was incredibly capable but was unable to rise very far because of the patriarchal structure of society.

Rachel's character seems incredibly forthright and honest, which would explain why Betteredge was baffled by her seeming change in character but determined belief she was innocent.

Despite saying she felt thankful, her words seem a bit bitter and sarcastic, as common throughout her narrative.

I am not sure if she's doing this on purpose or if she really is this ignorant of how the cabman feels.

Series! She is just as devout to her pamphlets as Betteredge to Robinson Crusoe.

Why does she consider sorrow and sympathy pagan? She has very strange ideas of Christian and Pagan/heathen.

It's very interesting to see the differences in Miss Verinder between the two narratives we've seen so far. In Betteredge, she rarely speaks or shows up while in here, she plays a central role, and shows more personality.

Clack is ever-conscious of the reader and always tries to present herself in a good light while twisting reality to get the reader to side with her own opinion. These frequent asides serves to remind us that this is HER talking to US and is not necessarily what happened.

She faithfully records Rachel's words, but leaves her own unsaid.

I am just as surprised as she is and I think Godfrey knows not the secret she thinks he knows.

All in all, I am in the dark concerning the motives behind everyone's actions.

She knows who stole the Moonstone, but then why did she not say it? Why is it awful if it gets out to the public? It is not Rosanna, who also knew, Godfrey, Rachel, and (I think) Franklin. Who else is suspicious?

It appears that she knows something about the Moonstone, but did not steal it. She says she has sacrificed herself--I assume she means she casted suspicion upon herself in order to keep the secret secret, and she says she has "a right to do that," implying some feeling of guilt or responsibility.

Interestingly, she doesn't suspect Godfrey, calling him (I'm assuming) an "innocent man" who must keep "a secret" which implies he also knows the secret and must keep it. But why is Betteredge and the mother left out? What secret do they keep?

Why does she look back at her mother?

Why does she only scream when Godfrey says this? Does she just not think ahead at all? Or perhaps it's just much worse for her to hear it spoken aloud.

Rachel obviously doesn't think very highly of Godfrey--probably even before the Moonstone was stolen. She speaks of his lady-worshippers and "noble sentiments" sarcastically, implying she finds him to be different from how he presents himself, and dislikes it. This makes me wonder why Godfrey likes her (according to Penelope in Betteredge's account). He didn't know of the Moonstone then, so that couldn't be a motivating factor.

It appears Rachel suspects Godfrey as the taker of the Moonstone.

It appears she's very impulsive. She doesn't think far ahead and only came to realize this connection now. Which makes me wonder what motivated her to be so eager to learn of Godfrey's experience in the first place.

By making this "offhanded" observation, we can tell by the comparisons she draws that she dislikes Rachel very much, even though verbally, she does very little to show it--she is quiet through the entire scene.

Ironic since no one said it was immodest. By her remonstration, she reveals what she thinks while keeping her facade of a kind, non-judgemental Christian woman to herself.

Autumn is the season of dying--leaves are turning colors and falling off. This is a very flowery way of saying Verinder is growing old. Clack has a way of decorating her words in flowery language to obscure her true intent.

Rachel is very tactless. Even if he had private reason, why would he say it in front of so many people?

Why does it place her hands there? Is there something she ought to feel there? I don't think it's the diamond, but there's something conspiracy-like here.

Clack is playing down Rachel's femininity and beauty. It is obvious Clack likes Godfrey and describes Rachel negatively in every interaction with Godfrey ("worldly disturbance," "unladylike rate," "shockingly untidy," "unbecomingly flushed," "one young man talking to another")

He's passing the blame. "Since Luker made HIS injuries public, I am forced to as well! I didn't want this at all!" He doth protest too much. I think his words mean opposite of what he says.

For someone trying to downplay what had happened to him, her make it clear it wasn't just any carpet he was thrown upon--oh no, it was a very thin carpet!

I think perhaps it's the other way around!

Oh, perhaps the Moonstone has already changed hands. The thief got rid of it, and now the Indian are chasing it around from person to person.

Why him? He wasn't in the house and couldn't have stolen the Moonstone.

Perhaps the bulk is due to the small child they hid within. But why would they hide the fourth member of the search party?

Why is Blake paying Clack to write her account? He has vested interest, surely.

It is the three Indians! They are on a mission to retrieve the Moonstone, so it seems to me that they believe Godfrey is in possession, or had been in possession, or will be in possession of, of the Moonstone. They knew where the Moonstone would soon be when Franklin was going to the Verinder house, so I think they are onto something. Godfrey is very suspicious and I suspect him to be majorly related to the stolen Moonstone in some way.

Could the lady in fact be the three Indians? Or perhaps working in coordination with them?

A tree found in Asia.

Those are certainly very flattering words. Clack seems to have a very favorable impression of Godfrey. Could it be because she's very religious and so is Godfrey (GOD-frey)?

In what way is this boy interesting-looking?

The only other delicate little boy we've seen mentioned is an orphan picked up off the streets by three Indians. Is this the same boy?

If it doesn't matter, then why did she make such a big deal of the name: bringing up the fact she omitted the bank's name and explaining it was blotted out? She could've just as easily said "Mr. Godfrey happed to be cashing a cheque at a banking-house in Lombard Street. On gaining the door..."

Surprisingly, because of how different the two are, Betteredge and Clack share some common ground: that is, they are both of the opinion that Godfrey Ablewhite is admirable.

The Bible has a parable about sowing seeds which is about spreading the Word and converting people to Christianity, so it's funny to me that she thinks her opinion of dresses is comparable.

Incredibly innocuous title, but we know it's a very condemning type of pamphlet. Similar to Miss Clack; she is very "Christian" at first glance, but when you actually "read" her, you find out she has a lot of negative opinions about everything.

Interesting choice of word with religious connotations.

Ironic because even though she states she doesn't care about the hall being dirty and the chair, hard, she was the one who complained about it in the first place. She seems blissfully unaware of her own contradictions.

It's Penelope! Obviously, we know what Clack thinks of the exchange, but I wonder what Penelope thought.

From this, we can see that Clack has very extreme views of people: immediately forming strong opinions on others and voicing the opinions.

Betteredge again! The term "heathen" applied to Betteredge is interesting because he claims to be Christian. Perhaps she doubts his devotion to the Bible due to his devotion to Robinson Crusoe.

Why not? To not wish to claim blood relations with someone who you are related to by blood is usually due to the feeling that one is far superior than the other and should not be associated as the "same." In this case, does Miss Clack think she is far superior, or that her cousin is? As the cousin is Rachel Verinder, I think it is likely to be the former. Perhaps Miss Clack believes Rachel goes against her Christian values, for sneaking around and potentially being a thief.

Betteredge also tends to interject the same phrase in his narrative. It would be interesting to see how this is used through this text.

That's a very bold statement, hinting at her pride and arrogance.

This is ironic because we would assume she would say "My nature is weak, so I accepted the cheque." However, she rationalizes her behavior by saying her "Christian humility" led to her overcoming her weak behavior to accept the cheque. Immediately, this tells us two things about her: 1) She's hypocritical 2) She does not want to look bad, so she is very adept at rationalizing her actions to herself Both warn us to be careful of accepting her words at face value.

She is incredibly religious. This provides an interesting contrast to Betteredge. Betteredge calls himself a Christian, but refers to Robinson Crusoe constantly while Miss Clack constantly references the Bible and it is shown to shape her drastically.

This is an interesting way to start a narrative.

I believe she is saying care (especially caring too much, worrying) is what causes her to not sleep well at night. She's seems to be a fretful person.

She seems to a person to abides very closely to rules and routine and would freak out if she has to disrupt that routine. Which leads me to believe her routines shall be disrupted later in this novel.

Betteredge dislikes dissecting/thinking deeply about things, and don't like to prod too deeply into things. This is reflected in his statement that "I am (thank God!) constitutionally superior to reason."

The words are very flowery and puts her on a pedestal/idealizes her. Perhaps he is trying to compensate for Cuff's negative opinion of her?

The line from Robinson Crusoe we began with is: “Now I saw, though too late, the Folly of beginning a Work before we count the Cost, and before we judge rightly of our own Strength to go through with it.”

Goodbye!

We began Betteredge's narrative with Robinson Crusoe, and end with Robinson Crusoe. How fitting.

Again, Betteredge's emphasis that there is something that supersedes rationality implies that his account is not entirely reliable. However, who am I to pass down value judgements?

The very same Indians who have now been released from jail, presumably. I wonder what they are up to.

This draws attention to the fact that Betteredge is also an unreliable narrator and that we, as the reader, must piece together what really happened through various biased perspectives.

Her premonition was true, in the end. She stated that the sands looked “as if it had hundreds of suffocating people under it–all struggling to get to the surface, and all sinking lower and lower in the dreadful deeps!" I wonder if someone else will die by the quicksands as well.

It makes me happy to see the Blakes have such a good relationship!

He acquiesced so quickly, it's funny. Especially since he said "I am dreadfully distressed."

It? Rosanna's death? What does he mean a "bad job"? That it wasn't done well? That is was an evil job--that someone had murdered her?

They're certainly close! What a happy, domestic life. she speaks of. I wish things had gone as Lucy had dreamed.

It seems that no one has a very high opinion of her, including Betteredge, despite his flattering description of her earlier ("...keen, clever face, and a nice clear voice, and a beautiful brown head of hair counted among her merits.") I wonder why.

It's interesting he calls her Limping Lucy, but doesn't refer to anyone else by (some descriptive word of the character) + (name) aside from "Miss" or "Mr"

Does she suspect Franklin Blake purposefully brought about the death of Rosanna?

Betteredge describes a lot of people as dark, when he gives a description at all. I wonder why this is the case. Does he just notice when people are dark more?

Betteredge is now the Last Rose of Summer. As in all his companions have left.

This is said right after the pony started from Franklin's words, "I am going to the devil!" so it seems funny to me how it was juxtaposed. I wonder what Franklin means by what he said.

I find this term interesting. A varnish is "a clear transparent hard protective finish or film. Varnish has little or no color and has no added pigment as opposed to paint or wood stain which contains pigment" (Wikipedia). From this, I infer that Betteredge thinks all the other "personalities" of Franklin are just protective guises and the true Franklin is the one he likes the most, which is an awfully selective way of viewing a person. Varnish is also added upon a painting and wood of furniture, which reminds me of the painting he did with Rachel, and the cabinet. Perhaps he has something to do with the missing Diamond, as the Diamond is associated with those things as well.

That is an interesting phrase and evokes in my mind the Wars of the Roses. From Wikipedia: "The Wars of the Roses were a series of English civil wars for control of the throne of England fought between supporters of two rival branches of the royal House of Plantagenet: the House of Lancaster, associated with a red rose, and the House of York, whose symbol was a white rose." I wonder if that will have significance later on.

If this money-lender mentioned it this many times, then according to Chekhov's gun, he must appear somehow in the novel. Perhaps in coordination with the Indians?

Does Cuff like Betteredge so much because he's easy to manipulate and read?

I wonder why he holds his mistress to such high esteem.

They're such good friends!

I wonder what secrets she has to hide that causes suspicions to be cast upon her.

Franklin is frankly in the library a lot! I think the library will have some sort of importance to the novel since it's mentioned so frequently.

It'll be interesting to look at what animals are brought up in the novel and what they are associated with. I read in TeresaG's annotation that the Indians were associated with snakes at one point, which underlines their exoticism and craftiness.

Franklin was talking about Objective and Subjective views and now Betteredge is borrowing his terminology. Does this mean that Betteredge is influenced by Franklin's words?

Betteredge tends to take "a whiff of tobacco and a turn at Robinson Crusoe." However, now, Robinson Crusoe is missing. I wonder if there's anything significant from this, if he isn't bent over Robinson Crusoe.

I noticed that not once had he mentioned Rosanna. Even her death didn't make Rosanna stay very long in Franklin's mind.

Is he trying to reinterpret his experience to feel better about being treated cruelly?

Betteredge interpreted his words as meaning look into the book, but I think Franklin interpreted that "some explanation might have been found, if we had only searched long enough for it" with regards to Rachel's behavior.

Bibliomancy: foretelling the future by interpreting a randomly chosen passage from a book, especially the Bible.

He seems to be acting similar to Rosanna--like a "woman in a dream." Will he meet the same frightful demise?

An alcoholic drink. It'll be interesting to trace the various drugs mentioned in the novel, but there are so many kinds! It'll be difficult to do so computationally.

Why does Franklin have so many handkerchiefs? Why does he keep dropping them?

Earlier, there was a whole section devoted to Franklin and Rachel painting the painting that became very important later. Perhaps the library, specifically, this map, will be important later? I am reminded of Chekhov's gun, the dramatic principle that states every element must be necessary. "If you say in the first chapter that there is a rifle hanging on the wall, in the second or third chapter it absolutely must go off. If it's not going to be fired, it shouldn't be hanging there." The library has been mentioned a couple times, and now a map.

Hahaha Robinson Crusoe makes another appearance. I would be interested in plotting when Robinson Crusoe shows up in the book and see what it correlates to.

I find it interesting that the dog-rose is mentioned specifically. The dog rose is a climbing flower and it is believed the name comes from the belief the root is a cure for a mad dog's bite. Another belief is that the word "dog" is disparaging, meaning "worthless." I wonder how this could relate to the tale. Perhaps a dog-rose would play a part in the mystery. Perhaps it would play a more indirect role. Is it calling Cuff, who is associated with roses, worthless? Or that he is mad, and it is the cure? Or perhaps he is the cure for the madness.

Does Betteredge mean to imply that an ordinary man would be speechless with amazement before his mistress? If so, that's a very high opinion of the mistress.

More than the other characters, the mistress makes signs rather than talking, which is interesting and also makes her seem more mysterious because we do not have much dialogue through which to know her inner thoughts.

The terms used remind me of Christianity: righteous, testimony, lamb. Additionally, Betteredge said "more than my Christianity was strong enough to bear" which is the first time he really drew much attention to his Christianity (he had said Christian, as an adjective, concerning himself before, but he much more frequently refers to Robinson Crusoe).

It shows a difference in viewpoints. Betteredge thought Cuff would be put off by his angry silence while Cuff probably thought the silence meant they couldn't refute him and was in silent, speechless agreement and was encouraged to continue.

This is a unique exhortation. Normally, people wish others would be more reasonable, not less.

What does this mean? That he's able to stubbornly hold onto his viewpoint against all wisdom? Why does he preface this with a "thank God!"? He's writing this looking back, so if this is the final reveal, wouldn't it have been more sorrowful? Perhaps the robber is someone else.

Despite calling himself a good Christian, I am fairly certain he mentions Robinson Crusoe and refers to the passages from it for wisdom and leans on it for strength far more than the Bible.

Interesting that he mentions God right after Robinson Crusoe. It reinforces the idea that Robinson Crusoe is his religion.

Could it be that both of them suspected Rachel, but the mistress did not want to verbally accept it?

Betteredge is relying on future knowledge to understand people's motives. Since it didn't say Franklin left the house to hide the Diamond, perhaps he isn't involved in the robbery.

He's bringing up an event that happened earlier in the book, implying it's foreshadowing, but if he's making it so obvious, I find it hard to believe. It makes me think that this isn't truly the end of Rosanna.

A bit ominous since Rosanna right now is a "hidden face" as well. Do they suspect she fell down the South Spit into the waters because she had been spurned by Franklin?

Why does Cuff have such a high opinion of Betteredge? Or perhaps since Betteredge is the narrator, he remembered this in a way that favors him the most.

I don't really have anything of value to say. I just like this line. I'm not sure why, but I find it interesting.

Rachel, Rosanna, and Franklin are now going to be gone, and with that, the Diamond could be anywhere, and thus would be missing forever. Is this near the climax of the tale?

Will Rosanna be meeting Rachel to give her the Diamond? But Cuff thought Rachel already has the Diamond, so why should we care about anyone else?

Why so broken? Is it because her daughter was so rude? I'm surprised she didn't scold her daughter, or stop her or anything.

Why does she refuse to acknowledge Franklin? Or is it because she is so close to finish squirreling away the Diamond, she's very anxious and wants to get it done as soon as possible?

The Indians are constantly being referred to by their ethnicity ("Indians") or the color of the skin (and not even directly--that is, "dark"--but by comparison to colonial commodities--coffee, mahogany, etc. Meanwhile, Rosanna and Rachel, British citizens, have dark skin, but it is only mentioned once/a few times. This focus on appearance highlights the difference in treatment between the "us" vs "them." It's like all that really matters about the Indians is that they are a threat, the different-ness of their culture (presented in a negative light; such as Betteredge's dismissal of their beliefs as hocus-pocus), and their exotic ("Oriental"), foreign appearances.

I thought this earlier when she was first described, but I find it surprising that someone with dark skin is in a position of power and considered beautiful since I thought Europeans thought light skin is more beautiful (since dark skin = peasant tan from working in the field while light skin = noble living a life of luxury no need to be tanned by the sun). Perhaps this alludes to her family's past? Maybe they are newly rich, or maybe they aren't as well-off as they are being portrayed...

It is interesting that Rosanna isn't the only one who calls the quicksand the Shivering Sand. So does Cuff, an entirely unrelated person. I think this name/place may have some symbolic significance to the story.

Why indeed did she hide rather than destroy? I think she used it to wrap around the diamond to hide in the sand, and I think they mentioned that as well, but they didn't they try to retrieve the dress before?

Definitely upping the stakes. They have the allegedly clairvoyant boy with them, so that makes it all the more urgent. This us versus them is very interesting and I think there's something to be said about the "othering" of the conquerer versus the conquered here.

He mentions this many times. I think there's something more to this phrase.

Why did it capture her attention so? Also, the mention of grave, associated with death, so soon after evoking God (to me, at least) makes me think there is something significant to be parsed out here. One thing that I think may be connected is that Rosanna talked about how the quicksand shall be her grave (or something like that). That is also where they suspected she hid her dress, so I think there's definitely something going on related to all that.

Merciful when associated with Christianity makes me think of God because God is the one in the position of power who can show mercy. This association of the mistress is interesting and reinforces Betteredge's idolization of the mistress.

Betteredge didn't explicitly connect it to her being spurned by Franklin. Perhaps this is a clue that she is not acting this way because she was spurned by Franklin, as we would've expected, but because of something related to the Diamond. A hint, perhaps? Although I don't know what this is building up to.

Betteredge has a tendency to dismiss and write off things out of the ordinary. But perhaps Rosanna had to look at something for a prolonged period of time to hide the Diamond, or something related to it.

It's interesting that he should mention it. Is this related to the Diamond?

Once again, it shows how England is ruled by class, which has just as many rigorous rules about everything as the caste in India, revealing another hypocrisy of Betteredge (earlier I had commented that he views women as inferior while elevating his mistress).

This is interesting to me because this came right after he took a subservient role helping his mistress tend to the household accounts. Additionally, from what we've read about the two, Betteredge holds her in very high regards--almost worshipping--so this opinion seems to contradict it, especially since Betteredge always calls her "lady" or "mistress," which emphasizes her femininity.

What does this mean? Mortal as in not a god, or mortal as in we all have to die someday? Why does remembering that i am a mortal help me thoroughly understand him? I think it's very interesting that Betteredge uses the phrase "for once in your life".

Another way out of this business is if the Diamond was traced to the actual robber. This makes me think he is in cahoots with the robber, or at least has some sort of relationship or vested interest with the robber, and that he knows who the robber is, which is why he doesn't want the real robber to be caught. I am of the mind Miss Rachel stole the Diamond. Franklin and Rosanna know this, and are helping her.

That is an interesting comparison. We talked about how drugs are used in this book, so it would be interesting to look deeper into what other layers can we read from this.

So he was panicked and wanted Rosanna to leave as quickly as possible! But why does he want Betteredge to make it right? Why not do it himself? And since he already broke her heart once, why try to give her hope and lead her on, especially since he likes Rachel?

Franklin, with his "foreign education," is socially tactful. I think this because Betteredge had once stated: "but, when the English side of him turned up in due course, he lost his foreign smoothness," implying that when his English side doesn't show up, he is very smooth. Thus, I would think Franklin wouldn't be so blunt about his disinterest towards Rosanna. It seems that he was this blunt BECAUSE she was listening, which is interesting. But on the other hand, he likes Miss Rachel and I think he is rather blunt at times as well, and had tried to stop Rosanna from longing for him,

Why did he say that and why did Franklin respond as he did? Very interesting. What purpose did both of them speak with? Cuff is very cunning and manipulative, so I wonder what his bigger plan is.

Why is Penelope trying to make her retrace her steps to the house? Does Rosanna want to reveal a secret of Penelope? Earlier I stated that the rose garden seemed to be a place where Cuff changes his top suspect. Perhaps Penelope will become more suspicious next? Perhaps the garden is a place of change or emotion since many things changed/are revealed here, especially related to emotions (especially love). Miss Rachel rejected Godfrey and decided on Franklin as her love (according to Penelope), Cuff changed his primary suspect due to Betteredge revealing Rosanna's love interest, etc.

Oh! What I had suspected in an earlier annotation has come true! Is it a coincidence or is Rosanna here to yearn for Franklin at a distance once again? Just now, Betteredge talked about how Sergeant Cuff suspects Rosanna revealed important information to Franklin, so perhaps this will further his suspicions? Or maybe Rosanna really is here deliberately to meet with Franklin which will mirror and juxtapose her deliberate hiding from and watching of Franklin from before.

Occasionally in the text, there are words randomly capitalized. I wonder what the meaning behind the capitalizations are. Is it just to emphasize the word? Or is there something more to it?

We talked about names and how the author may be using them to say something. I've been thinking about that and Rosanna has "ROSE" in it. Sergeant Cuff loves roses, and she was hiding among the roses earlier. I don't think this is foreshadowing a relationship between Cuff and Rosanna, but I think there might be some significance behind how rose-y her name is.

This is the same place Sergeant Cuff and Betteredge had met Rosanna earlier! Betteredge threw off Sergeant Cuff's suspicion by telling him that she was there because Franklin was usually there. Perhaps that was foreshadowing this and Sergeant Cuff's most suspicious person would change again (especially since Rosanna and Miss Rachel didn't meet up as he had expected)? Will Rosanna show up again during this scene?

For someone who purports he doesn't believe in superstition (or "hocus-pocus"), Betteredge's language is very superstitious. An explanation for the awkward dinner party could be because everyone's mind are on the diamond (they want it for themselves). This reminds me of the scene in the beginning with the quicksand when Rosanna describes the sand as looking like "hundreds of suffocating people," like the dozen of people at the party suffocating under the heavy atmosphere, failing at conversation. All because the (moon)stone was thrown into the party.

The term eclipsed emphasizes the "moon" part of Moonstone. It emphasizes the otherworldliness and the cultural tradition of the moonstone.

In class today we CTRL+F various terms. I looked up "sink" and noticed that sink tends to be related to mood ("to prevent my spirits from sinking"). This line of dialogue talked about throwing a stone in, and Franklin arrives shortly after to talk about the moonstone. This may reference the fact the moonstone causes the central conflict of the story (causing people's mood to sink) when the cast of characters greedily try to claim it for their own (as quicksand does). Perhaps the solution is to throw the moonstone in the quicksand as Betteredge had joked?

The narrator professes Robinson Crusoe to be "my friend in need in all the necessities of this mortal life." Thus, it would be helpful to know more about this book, as it shapes the narrator's point of view and way of explaining things. From Wikipedia, it seems that like this tale, Robinson Crusoes is presented as an autobiography written as a series of documents. Already, we can see the narrator's preferred form of dissemination of information to be influenced by the book and it would be interesting to see what other influences does Robinson Crusoes have on this tale.

A lot of numbers being cited ("page one hundred and twenty nine," "May twenty-first, eighteen hundred and fifty"). It makes the story seem more grounded in reality as well as like a presentation of facts in the court of law to make a conviction.

There is a focus on that which is said and that which is not said; information and withheld information. As this is a detective novel, it makes sense to draw attention to what is presented and what is withheld, and make the reader wonder the motivations for presenting and withholding information.

The narrator tends to tell the story in tales, using various secondhand sources: "I heard," "superstition," "what I am now about to write". By making the information seem to come to the reader by secondhand and providing different accounts (such as presenting the Indian explanation of the stone as well as the ancient Greek and Roman stories about the stone), it encourages the reader to not take the information presented at face value and to draw their own conclusions.