He had given her a ruby bar, had the clasp of her pearl necklace set with rabies, and last Christmas had presented her with a small but fine "pigeon blood" encircled with diamonds.

These had enraptured her for the moment, but she had always circled back to the historic stone, over which her indulgent husband was so unaccountably obstinate.
Until lately.

He recalled that for several months she had not mentioned it.

Could she have been indulging in a prolonged attack of interior sulks, which affected her spirits, dimmed her radiant personality?
He abominated the idea but admitted the possibility.

She would not be the first person to be the victim of a secret but furious passion for jewels.
He recalled a novel of Hichens; not the matter but the central idea.
Authors of other races had used the same motive.