The Luminaries Part 1, Chapter 7 Summary

Sun in Capricorn (27 January 1866)

  • Now we're back in the hotel room with Gascoigne and Anna, and we hear a little bit about how they got to know each other—and how he became involved in helping her hide a fortune of gold that she found sewn into her dress.
  • We also get some details about Gascoigne's past.
  • In their encounter at the hotel, Anna and Gascoigne talked about that strange incident with the gun, where the thing fired but…there appeared to be no bullet hole anywhere.
  • They also discussed the missing opium.
  • It appears that Gascoigne had a surprise for Anna—he was taking her to meet an as-yet unidentified woman to shop for hats.
  • Anna mentioned that her landlord, Edgar Clinch, had demanded her outstanding rent immediately, despite the fact that he had just come into a lot of money by buying Crosbie Wells's cabin (which contained the fortune everyone has been talking about). Anna was going to have trouble paying up, since she had recently quit working as a prostitute.
  • She wanted to get some of the gold Gascoigne was hiding for her, but he refused to give it to her. He also refused to front her the money—and was irritated at his perception that she wanted him to do so.