The Luminaries Part 1, Chapter 8 Summary

Medium Coeli/Imum Coeli (27 January 1866)

  • Gascoigne left the Gridiron, discussing the pistol shots and general ruckus in Anna's room with the valet and Edgar on his way out.
  • Edgar was in a foul mood and apparently inclined to be angry at Pritchard for giving Anna the drug that sent her into the loopy state that prompted her to collapse in the middle of the road a couple of weeks before. He vented about that to Gascoigne—that and Francis Carver, who apparently had beat Anna up a few months ago, which resulted in her miscarrying a baby.
  • Gascoigne then got on Clinch's case for requiring Anna to pay up all the rent. So, yeah, things got more unpleasant between the two men from there.
  • We then hear Edgar Clinch's thoughts and memories about Anna, including his discovery of gold in her dresses one day (which he assumed Anna was purposely smuggling for Dick Mannering). In his flashback, we learn that Anna's dresses had been purchased from the salvage of a cargo steamer that had wrecked.
  • It seems that Edgar was in love with her and had considered proposing.
  • Anyway, after their argument, Gascoigne eventually left in a huff.