It was said he had got possession of his Indian jewel by means which,
bold as he was, he didn't dare acknowledge. He never attempted to sell
it--not being in need of money, and not (to give him his due again)
making money an object. He never gave it away; he never even showed it
to any living soul. Some said he was afraid of its getting him into a
difficulty with the military authorities; others (very ignorant indeed
of the real nature of the man) said he was afraid, if he showed it, of
its costing him his life.
There was perhaps a grain of truth mixed up with this last report. It
was false to say that he was afraid; but it was a fact that his life
had been twice threatened in India; and it was firmly believed that the
Moonstone was at the bottom of it. When he came back to England, and
found himself avoided by everybody, the Moonstone was thought to be at
the bottom of it again. The mystery of the Colonel's life got in the
Colonel's way, and outlawed him, as you may say, among his own people.
The men wouldn't let him into their clubs; the women--more than
one--whom he wanted to marry, refused him; friends and relations got too
near-sighted to see him in the street.
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