Franklin Blake, the gifted amateur, is an early example of the gentleman detective. The highly competent Sergeant Cuff, the policeman called in from Scotland Yard (whom Collins based on the real-life Inspector Jonathan Whicher who solved the murder committed by Constance Kent), is not a member of the gentry and is unable to break Rachel Verinder's reticence about what Cuff knows is an inside job. "The Moonstone" has also been described as perhaps the earliest police procedural, due to the portrayal of Cuff. The social difference between Collins's two detectives is shown by their relationships with the Verinder family: Sergeant Cuff befriends Gabriel Betteredge, Lady Verinder's steward (chief servant), whereas Franklin Blake eventually marries her daughter Rachel.