Second Period, First Narrative, Chapter 6
Chapter 6 consists of the reproductions of several letters between Miss Clack and Franklin Blake at the time Miss Clack is writing her narrative of the diamond. Miss Clack asks Franklin for permission to include extracts from several Christian books to expand upon the event of Lady Verinder's death. Franklin denies permission. Miss Clack inquires whether, in her last chapters, she may include information which she now knows, but did not know at the time. Franklin refuses her request as all the narratives must be limited to individual experience at the time. Miss Clack asks permission to reproduce this correspondence in her narrative, and Franklin grants permission, on the condition that there be no more letters between them. Miss Clack writes one more letter informing Franklin that he has not managed to insult her, as she—a Christian woman—is above insult.
Second Period, First Narrative, Chapter 7
A month has passed since Lady Verinder's death. In the meantime, Godfrey and Rachel's engagement has become known to members of the family. Godfrey's father is acting as caretaker for Rachel and has decided that she take up residence in Brighton, accompanied by his wife and Miss Clack.
Miss Clack meets up with Rachel and Mrs. Ablewhite in London as they prepare to move into Brighton. Rachel is cordial to Miss Clack, asking for forgiveness for her past harshness and asking Miss Clack for her friendship, in honor of Miss Clack's friendship with the late Lady Verinder. Miss Clack is inwardly unresponsive to this friendliness and outwardly tries to get Rachel to speak of her engagement to Godfrey, but Rachel mentions nothing. Miss Clack proceeds to Brighton and prepares the house with Christian servants and Christian books for Rachel's arrival on the weekend.
Rachel and Mrs. Ablewhite arrive, escorted by Mr. Bruff instead of Godfrey, who has remained in London because something has come up. In the afternoon, Mr. Bruff and Rachel take a walk together, and when they return, Rachel seems to have made a resolution. Rachel retires for the night and Mr. Bruff returns to London.
The next morning, Miss Clack enters Rachel's room and prods her for information of her conversation with Mr. Bruff. Rachel responds by saying, "I shall never marry Mr. Godfrey Ablewhite." Rachel dismisses Miss Clack. Miss Clack goes out for several hours and returns to find Godfrey in the house. Godfrey is warm and confiding towards Miss Clack. He expresses happiness to see her and no embarrassment about his harsh words of her in the drawing room at the Verinder's or his lack of attendance at charity group meetings. He explains that Rachel has broken their engagement and that he has submitted. He leads Miss Clack to a chair with his arm around her.
Second Period, First Narrative, Chapter 8
Godfrey assures Miss Clack that he has no idea why he even proposed to Rachel to begin with, when his true happiness comes from his work with the charity women like herself. Miss Clack expresses the view that Godfrey's Christian humility has merely been tested, and now he has emerged into the light. Godfrey agrees, kissing her hands. Miss Clack swoons, then Samuel enters the room, and Godfrey is reminded of his train.
Miss Clack continues to try to convert Rachel, with the aim being trusted with all of Rachel's secrets. Miss Clack selects passages from Life, Letters, and Labours of Miss Jane Ann Stamper for Rachel to read.
The next day, Mr. Ablewhite arrives, followed by Mr. Bruff. Mr. Ablewhite is not pleased to see Mr. Bruff, with whom he has just met in London the day before to discuss Rachel's breaking off of the engagement. Mr. Ablewhite begins to question Rachel about the broken engagement and eventually loses his temper with her when she declines to be specific about what Godfrey has done to warrant the breaking of the engagement. Miss Clack breaks in to offer to read a passage from Jane Stamper on "Peace in Families," but Mr. Ablewhite curses at her. Miss Clack gives him a pamphlet on the evils of swearing.
Rachel stands up for Miss Clack as a guest in the house and Mr. Ablewhite reminds her that it is his house and asks Rachel to leave it. Rachel prepares to leave, and Mr. Bruff offers to take over guardianship of her. Rachel accepts and agrees to come to his house. Miss Clack bursts in and fervently asks to be Rachel's guardian instead, to make a Christian out of her, as she had tried to do for Lady Verinder. Miss Clack reveals that Lady Verinder had known she was terminally ill and states her belief that Lady Verinder died unsaved. Rachel and the others are horrified and leave the room.
Miss Clack would never see Rachel again. She has prepared to leave Rachel the copy of Jane Stamper in her will. This ends Miss Clack's diary.
Analysis
Franklin's editorial presence again becomes apparent in Chapter VI of Miss Clack's narrative. Franklin takes a derogatory and condescending tone with Miss Clack in his letters to her, and this overriding, guiding voice continues to affect our feelings toward Miss Clack. Miss Clack's letters touch upon one of the interesting features of the narratives that make up The Moonstone—each person is asked to narrate the events surrounding their interaction with the Verinders or the diamond in the way that he or she felt at the time and with only the information that he or she had at the time. In this way, the method of the crime and the criminal are concealed from us, as each narrator tries to reproduce all details as equally important, instead of privileging only the subject matter that turns out to be relevant. Miss Clack is the first narrator to point out the difficulty of this task, and indeed, she is unable to finish her narrative without alluding to future events. She thus remarks in Chapter VIII that her opinion of Godfrey has not changed and alludes to future events that would put that good opinion to the test. She remarks, "I write with the tears in my eyes, burning to say more. But no—I am cruelly limited to my actual experience of persons and things."
The tone of the correspondence between Miss Clack and Franklin, in which Miss Clack takes a position of subservience, also serves to remind us that Miss Clack is writing this narrative for money. This detail, stressed more than once within Miss Clack's narratives, points to the satirical fact that worldly things such as money or gossip serve to motivate Miss Clack more often that the charity she preaches. Thus Miss Clack's solicitous care of Lady Verinder's spiritual state before her death is in part related to Miss Clack's hope of receiving a small legacy. When Lady Verinder died, Miss Clack protested that she thought of Lady Verinder's unsaved spiritual state first and her failure to give Miss Clack her legacy only later. But this protestation only serves to drive home to us (who have already been encouraged to read Miss Clack's narrative for what it represses) that the legacy and the spiritual health were of at least equal importance to her. Similarly, Miss Clack's persistent hanging on Rachel is easily attributed to her interest in Rachel's apparent secrets (and perhaps Rachel's wealth as an heiress) rather than her interest in Rachel's spiritual well being. In fact, Miss Clack equates these two things in her mind in Chapter VIII: "When I had converted her, she would, as a matter of course, have no concealments from Me."
In these final chapters of Miss Clack's narrative, Godfrey is again revealed as a two-faced, untrustworthy character. We have seen, in Chapter V, Godfrey speak of both Miss Clack and the charity ladies with great scorn, and yet here, in Chapter VIII he is again respectful to Miss Clack and her work. This contradiction can only be reconciled by the polished hypocrisy at which both Miss Clack and Godfrey are so good. Their characters are again aligned in recognition of this practice of social hypocrisy achieved through Christian rhetoric—Godfrey asks Miss Clack's help with this specifically: "Exert your intellect, and help me Can you account for it [Godfrey's brief lapse from charity work and his proposal to Rachel], dear friend? It's quite beyond me." With Rachel's breaking off of her engagement to Godfrey, seemingly because of news she has had from Mr. Bruff, Godfrey now stands as the most legitimately suspicious character related to the theft of the diamond.
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