The Moonstone: First Period Chapter Seven Discussion

By littlemirrorrapid

Kinda a short chapter, but I still had a lot of feelings about it. I’m not sure what to make of Betteredge’s whole “talking to women” thing—did Penelope actually get persuaded, or was she more just distracted? And is Rachel really convinced that Franklin’s just got one of those “odd” people in tow and then they’ll leave again? Also, Rosanna seems really off. I can’t tell if she knows something about Mr. Franklin already, or if she’s just randomly acting suspicious. Maybe it’s love-at-first-sight? That thought crossed my mind but I’m not confident. Rachel also seems pretty taken with Franklin—are they related somehow? Like cousins? I guess in that kind of upper-class world it wouldn’t be totally shocking. Then we’ve got the nighttime intruders… were the Indians involved, or are we looking at someone from the household sneaking around? Anything else I missed, or anything you think is the real clue here?