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The Moonstone

By WILKIE COLLINS Condensation by JESSIE A. PARSONS BEFORE the Mohammedan conquest the moon-god, in his Brahmin shrine, wore upon his forehead one of the most beautiful diamonds in creation. "Partly from its peculiar color, partly from a superstition which represented it as partaking of the nature of the deity whom it adorned, and growing and lessening in luster with the waxing and waning of the moon, it first gained the name by which it continues to be known in India to this day--the name of 'the moonstone.' After passing from one lawless hand to another, in 1850, 'after the lapse of eight centuries the moonstone looks forth over the walls of the sacred city in which its story first began.'" Throughout this long period the moonstone had been sought diligently by three Brahmins and their successors. Their vigilance was, in 1848, rewarded by the sight of the resplendent gem gleaming on the bosom of a light-hearted girl. Rachel Verinder had received the moonstone as a legacy from an unscrupulous uncle who was in high disfavor with the family. And he, knowing that the moonstone brought ill-luck, had made the gift in revenge. Although thoroughly admired at Miss Verinder's birthday dinner, the stone began to exert its uncanny influence on the atmosphere of the party. Two rival suitors were present--both cousins of Rachel Verinder. One, Godfrey Ablewhite, persuasive in manner and eloquent as chairman of many charitable organizations, lived in the neighborhood and had hitherto gained the advantage which propinquity gave him over Franklin Blake, lately returned to England, bringing the moonstone, after several years spent on the Continent. The latter was a guest of Mrs. Verinder three weeks before the birthday, where his graciousness and congeniality to Miss Verinder made him most welcome. Hence it was not surprising that Rachel fell in love with him and refused the importunities of Godfrey Able-white just before the birthday dinner. This major tension, accompanied by various misunderstandings on the part of other guests, ended in a dispute between the family physician and Franklin Blake over the latter's sleeplessness, in which the doctor failed to convince him that medicine could triumph over his nerves.