Godfrey. Is that brief enough for you?
Godfrey (thunderstruck).What!!!
Miss Clack (as before). Rachel regrets her rash acceptance of your proposal. Rachel respects, but can never love you. Rachel withdraws her promise, and positively refuses to be your wife. Is that plain enough, Mr. Godfrey?
Godfrey. Miss Clack, I have nothing to say to you. I insist on seeing Rachel immediately. (He approaches RACHEL'S door. MISS CLACK places herself before the door.) Let me pass, if you please.
Miss Clack. Are you prepared, sir, to employ brute force with a woman?
Godfrey (calling). Rachel!
Miss Clack (calling). Don't answer him, dear Rachel! (to GODFREY.) Tear me, by brute force, from the spot I stand on! You don't approach Rachel in any other way.
Godfrey (yielding). Take advantage, Miss Clack, of your privilege as a woman. Sooner or later Rachel must come out. (He returns to his chair.) If I wait all night, here I sit till she leaves her room.
Miss Clack (setting down her chair with a bang). And here I sit, Mr. Godfrey, until I have sat you out! (A momentary silence. A bell is heard to ring outside the hall door from FRANKLIN'S room. RACHEL suddenly opens her door and appears. MISS CLACK and GODFREY both start up together.)
Miss Clack. My dear! why do you leave your room?
Rachel (looking at the gallery). Hush! the bell! (BETTEREDGE enters to answer the bell. MR. CANDY appears in the gallery, closing FRANKLIN'S door behind him.)
Godfrey. Rachel! I must have a word in private with you immediately.
Rachel (impatiently). Not now! Not now! (She draws back from him. He follows, remonstrating with her. BETTEREDGE addresses MR. CANDY from the bottom of the gallery stairs.)
Betteredge. Am I wanted upstairs, sir?
Mr. Candy. Stay where you are. You are wanted in the hall. Turn down the lamps.
Godfrey (hearing him). Turn down the lamps?
Betteredge (aside). Turn down the lamps? Here's the doctor in the secret now! Everybody but me!
Rachel (to BETTEREDGE). Betteredge, do as Mr. Candy tells you.
Betteredge (sulkily). Very well, miss. If you prefer being in the dark, very well. (He gets the steps, and puts out the lamps. The dialogue proceeds.)
Miss Clack (startled). What does this mean, Rachel?
Godfrey (surprised). Why are they darkening the room?
Rachel (drawing back once more from GODFREY). Wait, and you will see. (Aside.) The experiment has succeeded! He is darkening the room to make it the same as last night! (GODFREY is about to follow RACHEL, when MR. CANDY'S voice, still speaking from the gallery, stops him.)
Mr. Candy. Mr. Betteredge, is there a moon tonight?
Betteredge (to himself, still putting out the lamps). The moon is in it, too! (to MR. CANDY.) Yes, sir. (CUFF shows himself at the hall door.)
Mr. Candy. Draw back the curtains from the garden window.
Betteredge (aside).The curtains are in the conspiracy!
Cuff (advancing). Don't hurry yourself, Mr. Betteredge--I'll open the curtains. (He pulls the string that draws back the curtains. The moonlight streams in across the place occupied by the cabinet. The room is also partially lit, as in the First Act, by the firelight. CUFF locks the window, after opening the curtains, and puts the key in his pocket. BETTEREDGE, after putting back the steps, joins CUFF at the window. MR. CANDY watches FRANKLIN'S door. RACHEL, MISS CLACK, and GODFREY all observe MR. CANDY, with the varying emotions which agitate them. During this interval of by-play, GODFREY continues the dialogue.)
Godfrey (calling from the hall). Mr. Candy!
Mr. Candy (turning round). Yes?
Godfrey. Is there anything the matter with Franklin Blake?
Mr. Candy. There is nothing the matter with Franklin Blake.
Godfrey. What do these extraordinary proceedings mean?
Mr. Candy. Hush! (He descends the stairs and approaches RACHEL, to whom he speaks aside.) Mr. Blake is asleep, and stirring in his bed. He is dreaming, if ever I saw a man dreaming yet. Wait a little, and (speaking his next words emphatically) don't forget the case of the Irish porter!
Betteredge (whispering to CUFF). I saw you lock the window. What for?
Cuff (whispering). Use your eyes and ears, and do as I tell you. Stand before the hall door, and let nobody pass out until I give the word. (A pause. BETTEREDGE, completely puzzled, places himself at the hall door. CUFF, after looping up the curtains, joins MR. CANDY, passing from right to left under the gallery. FRANKLIN'S door slowly opens. He appears in his dressing-gown, as in the First Act, pausing before he descends the stairs.)
Rachel (softly to herself). Dear! dear Franklin!
Mr. Candy (taking RACHEL aside). Don't speak to him! Have you got the Moonstone?
Rachel. Yes.
Mr. Candy. Put it back in the cabinet drawer. (RACHEL obeys, passing under the gallery. MISS CLACK follows her, in alarm. GODFREY'S attention is riveted on FRANKLIN. FRANKLIN begins to descend the stairs slowly.)
Miss Clack. Rachel! I'm frightened.
Rachel (drawing back under the gallery). Keep with me, and I'll tell you what it means. (She speaks in dumb show to MISS CLACK. BETTEREDGE, behind them, on guard at the hall door, listens eagerly. ANDREW and the other servants are just seen, assembled outside the hall door. MR. CANDY and CUFF are together, having withdrawn under the gallery. GODFREY, left by himself, standing with his back to the audience, opposite the staircase, suddenly turns as FRANKLIN descends the stairs step by step, and shows his face, disturbed by guilty terror. He makes first for the hall door. RACHEL and MISS CLACK draw aside from him.)
Betteredge (to GODFREY in a whisper). You can't pass! (The servants block up the doorway. GODFREY retreats to the window on the right, and tries it.)
Godfrey (to himself in a whisper). Locked! (He draws back again, passing under the gallery. FRANKLIN has by this time advanced into the hall, and stops, looking straight before him, as in the First Act. GODFREY, passing behind him, tries to escape by the gallery stairs. CUFF has placed himself there on guard, at the moment when FRANKLIN advanced into the hall. He signs to GODFREY to stand back. GODFREY retreats, panic-stricken, to the front, between the fireplace and RACHEL'S door, and stands there, watching FRANKLIN, as he slowly moves towards the cabinet, turning his back on GODFREY. At the same time, MR. CANDY joins RACHEL and MISS CLACK under the gallery. FRANKLIN speaks to himself, as he spoke in the First Act.)
Franklin (in his sleep). It's not safe in the cabinet. What's to be done with the Moonstone? (He hesitates, then opens the folding-doors of the cabinet.)
Godfrey (to himself, in a whisper). What is he doing? (He advances a few steps on tip-toe towards the middle of the hall, as if impelled by some irresistible impulse to discover what FRANKLIN is about. FRANKLIN opens the cabinet drawer, takes the Moonstone out of it, turns and approaches GODFREY, holding out the diamond.)
Godfrey (recognising the Moonstone with a start of horror). The diamond! (He slowly retreats towards the fireplace.