Mr. Ablewhite, senior, refused to lend his son a farthing.
The next day Mr. Godfrey Ablewhite rode over, with you, to Lady
Verinder's house. A few hours afterwards, Mr. Godfrey (as you yourself
have told me) made a proposal of marriage to Miss Verinder. Here, he saw
his way no doubt--if accepted--to the end of all his money anxieties,
present and future. But, as events actually turned out, what happened?
Miss Verinder refused him.
On the night of the birthday, therefore, Mr. Godfrey Ablewhite's
pecuniary position was this. He had three hundred pounds to find on
the twenty-fourth of the month, and twenty thousand pounds to find in
February eighteen hundred and fifty. Failing to raise these sums, at
these times, he was a ruined man.
Under those circumstances, what takes place next?
You exasperate Mr. Candy, the doctor, on the sore subject of his
profession; and he plays you a practical joke, in return, with a dose of
laudanum. He trusts the administration of the dose, prepared in a little
phial, to Mr. Godfrey Ablewhite--who has himself confessed the share he
had in the matter, under circumstances which shall presently be related
to you. Mr. Godfrey is all the readier to enter into the conspiracy,
having himself suffered from your sharp tongue in the course of the
evening. He joins Betteredge in persuading you to drink a little brandy
and water before you go to bed. He privately drops the dose of laudanum
into your cold grog. And you drink the mixture.
Let us now shift the scene, if you please to Mr. Luker's house at
Lambeth. And allow me to remark, by way of preface, that Mr. Bruff and
I, together, have found a means of forcing the money-lender to make
a clean breast of it. We have carefully sifted the statement he has
addressed to us; and here it is at your service.
CHAPTER Second Period Sixth Narrative - Chapter IV Late on the evening of Friday, the twenty-third of June ('forty-eight),
Mr. Luker was surprised by a visit from Mr. Godfrey Ablewhite. He was
more than surprised, when Mr. Godfrey produced the Moonstone. No such
Diamond (according to Mr. Luker's experience) was in the possession of
any private person in Europe.
Mr. Godfrey Ablewhite had two modest proposals to make, in relation to
this magnificent gem. First, Would Mr. Luker be so good as to buy it?
Secondly, Would Mr. Luker (in default of seeing his way to the purchase)
undertake to sell it on commission, and to pay a sum down, on the
anticipated result?
Mr. Luker tested the Diamond, weighed the Diamond and estimated the
value of the Diamond, before he answered a word. HIS estimate (allowing
for the flaw in the stone) was thirty thousand pounds.