The Luminaries

Lydia Wells leaves the Wayfarer’s Fortune Hotel in the morning to go to the courthouse and learn about her claim on Crosbie Wells’s estate. After she leaves, Devlin enters the Wayfarer’s Fortune and talks to Anna alone. They discuss Lydia’s engagement to Carver, which had been announced in the paper that day, despite Lauderback having admitted to their affair publicly. Devlin shows Anna the unsigned contract of a gift of 2,000 pounds from Staines to Anna that Devlin had found in Crosbie’s cottage. Anna forges Staines’s signature on the document. Devlin asks Anna about Lydia’s gold-laden dresses. She admits she had some idea about the dresses being Lydia’s, but she says she didn’t know about the gold sewn into them until January 14. Lydia returns to the Wayfarer’s Fortune.

Shepard is at the building site of the new jail. A messenger from the gun shop appears and tells Shepard that Sook has just bought a gun. Shepard tells the messenger to tell the men in town that they should detain Sook if they see him again.

Since Staines has been missing for over two months, his mine, the Aurora, has been surrendered to the government and Quee has to get a new job. Quee goes to the company offices to look for a new position. When he leaves the offices, a group of men mistake him for Sook and begin to beat him up. Mannering interrupts and chases the men off. He reviews Quee’s indentured contract and learns that he will be working on Mannering’s claim, which is called the Dream of England.

Back at the Wayfarer’s Fortune, Lydia asks Devlin why he is there. They argue about Lydia’s control of Anna. Lydia forces Anna to tell Devlin that she had slept with Lydia’s husband, Crosbie, in Dunedin and gotten pregnant, so Lydia had sent her to Hokitika. Anna then tells Lydia that she has a contract that states she is the rightful owner of half the fortune found in Crosbie’s cottage. Devlin agrees to accompany Anna to the courthouse to assert her claim.

Lydia’s claim on Crosbie’s fortune had been approved by the court that morning and will be available to her as soon as the bank clears it. After she leaves the bank, Gascoigne, the legal clerk, receives a packet of documents approving the insurance claim on the costs of the Godspeed’s recovery. Also included is a letter from Carver, in which he states that the boat was purchased by Crosbie Wells and that he is adjudicating the claim. Lauderback arrives, angry that the insurance claim has been approved, and states that Carver signed the purchase contract for the Godspeed under a false name. Gascoigne says there is insufficient evidence of this.

Anna goes to the courthouse and shows the contract the solicitor, Fellowes, and explains that the gold in Crosbie’s cottage was Staines’s. He tells her he will look into the matter and asks her to come back later for an update.

Tauwhare finds Staines in Crosbie’s cottage. He is severely injured and feverish. Staines has a gunshot wound in his shoulder that is infected. Tauwhare tells Staines that Crosbie is dead. Staines is incoherent but says that he has buried gold somewhere on Māori land, under a tree. Staines asks for some opium and says Tauwhare should get Pritchard. Tauwhare gives him some water and says he will return soon.

After buying the gun, Sook hides in an alley, but some townsmen discover him. He runs away and goes to Shepard’s cabin in the Police Camp. Margaret Shepard is surprised to see him, but she lets him inside. Sook tells her he is planning on killing her husband. Sook hides under the bed, and Carver arrives at the cabin, looking for George Shepard. Margaret tells Carver that Shepard is at the construction site.

After Carver leaves, Margaret tells Sook to wait there until nightfall. She brings him English clothing so he can disguise himself.

Tauwhare and Pritchard race back to Crosbie’s cabin. Löwenthal goes to Pritchard’s and his assistant tells him he left saying, “The whore’s bullet” (597). Meanwhile, at the courthouse, Frost confirms to Fellowes that the gold in Crosbie’s cabin was marked “Aurora.” He also says that the last time he saw the gift contract, it was unsigned, but that the signature looks genuine, which suggests that Staines is alive. Nilssen tells Fellowes he had not found the contract in the cottage when he assessed it for the sale.

Pritchard and Tauwhare take Staines back to town for treatment. Anna returns to the courthouse to meet with Fellowes and, during the meeting, she collapses suddenly. Shepard orders her to be arrested and held at the jail. Pritchard and Tauwhare, too, arrive at the jail with Staines; with Devlin, they decide to keep Staines there until the doctor arrives.

Sook is outside the Crown Hotel, listening to Lydia and Carver talk. Just as he is getting ready to shoot Carver through the window, Shepard appears and tells him to drop his weapon. Sook realizes that Margaret must have tipped her husband off about his plans. Shepard blames Sook for the death of his brother, Jeremy, in Sydney. Sook insists he did not kill Jeremy Shepard. Meanwhile, Carver and Lydia realize that Moody must have traveled on the Godspeed under a false name, and they decide to write Moody’s father, Adrian Moody, about it. They hear a loud sound like a gunshot, but Carver says it was probably someone cleaning their gun.

Shepard takes Sook’s body to his private study at the Police Camp. Margaret is upset when she sees him dead. Devlin is also present, and he suggests that Margaret go lay down, and she leaves the room. Devlin asks Shepard why Sook wanted to kill Carver. Shepard asks Devlin to have a drink with him. Over whiskey, he tells Devlin that Margaret had been his brother’s wife. After Sook killed his brother in revenge for beating him, Shepard did the “dutiful thing” and married Margaret. At Sook’s trial, Shepard was offended when Margaret said that Jeremy killed himself and Sook was released. Shepard tells Devlin that he knew Sook had vowed revenge on Carver; when he heard that Sook had bought a gun, he warned Carver and stopped Sook.

Devlin leaves Shepard and goes to the jailhouse. The doctor has tended to Staines, and Staines and Anna have been manacled next to each other. They are both asleep, facing each other. Devlin concludes from their “mirrored bodies” that they are truly lovers.