Skip over navigation  The Moonstone  Wilkie Collins  First
Period, Chapters X and XI  First Period, Chapters VII–IX  First
Period, Chapters XII–XIV   First Period, Chapter X  There were
twenty-four dinner guests for Rachel's birthday, but most are
unimportant. With a bit of wire, Franklin has made the Moonstone
into a brooch for Rachel to wear. On Rachel's left at dinner is
Mr. Candy, the Frizinghall doctor who entreats Rachel to let him
take the diamond home and burn it in a scientific experiment. On
Rachel's right is Mr. Murthwaite, an Indian explorer who does
not speak much except to explain to Rachel that her life would
be endangered in India if she brought the diamond there. The
dinner conversation proceeds unusually awkwardly, as when Mr.
Candy fails to comprehend that another guest, Mrs. Threadgall,
speaks of her deceased husband. Through dinner, Godfrey speaks
quietly of religion to a guest near him, and Franklin lets his
foreign sides show through with whimsical, unreasonable comments
to other guests