Introduction

Indian Diamonds 157
cannot share what is another’s, no matter with whom, nor in what proportions”
(86). Jonathan Small tentatively asks: “Whose loot is this, if it is not ours?” (Doyle,
Sign 213) In Marsh’s The Datchet Diamonds, the thief Lawrence answers to Cyril’s
question, why he supposed that he was the “rightful owner of the Datchet diamonds”:
“By right of conquest” (Marsh 252). The legal status of the Eustace
Diamonds is never fully resolved: Lizzie keeps/steals them claiming them as a
present from her late husband in Scotland. Mr. Dove asserts that they are “paraphernalia”
rather than an “heirloom” (Trollope 263-264), a fact that is kept from
Lizzie. Thus, as long as Lizzie insists on keeping up her lie, the true owner of the
Eustace Diamonds cannot be determined. The question of the whereabouts of the
owner is further complicated by determining the original owner. At the basis of
this question the original theft of the diamonds from India introduces a complication.
The never-ending passage from one potential owner to the next emphasises
their mobility. This contrasts with the secure inheritance of land as in The Moonstone.
“The Moonstone seems to embody this shift from land to capital, with the
diamond itself objectifying the intrusion of capital into the landed estate.” (GoGwilt
63). The diamond, consequently, cannot confer identity as the inheritance of
land does. The substitution of marriage and domestic inheritance for the recovery
of the diamonds compensates for the loss and also corresponds to the Victorian
reverence for domesticity.
The problems of the unresolved detective plot are partly accommodated by assigning
the diamonds to the realm of romance. Objects from this fairy-tale Orient
are devoid of historical and political implications as their status as trophies would
suggest. They thus belong to an imaginary place without the threatening connotations
of Mutiny violence and colonial exploitation.
The romantic version of the diamonds, however, does not erase their geographical
and historical provenance. The colonial implications raise specific fears
of infiltration which intensify in late Victorian times. I will now look at the ways in
which this fear is expressed and framed in the texts. The most obvious elements
of invasion are the foreigners who follow the diamonds.
Invasion and Contamination
The Intrusion of the Periphery
The Inside: The Quiet Country House
While The Moonstone is set in the country side and the Verinder’s belong to the
landed gentry, The Sign of Four and “The Rajah’s Diamond” transplant the action
to urban settings. Both London and Paris are the capitals of empires and important
gateways to the colonies. London is infused with colonial goods and subjects