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(notes edited by John McGivering) |
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Publication
The story was published in the Civil and Military Gazette on March 25th 1887, in the first Indian edition of Plain Tales from the Hills in 1888, and in subsequent editions of that collection.
The Story
The Colonel's Wife is trouble. She spreads scandal, breaks engagements, and ruins people's lives, all for the highest motives. Then Chance takes a hand. The Colonel and Platte, a young fellow officer, both have similar - if not identical - Waterbury watches. Dressing for dinner they switch watches by mistake. Platte, on his way home in the small hours, takes a tumble from his horse, and drops the Colonel's watch outside a lady's window. Meanwhile the Colonel - by coincidence - has lost Platte's watch and come home very late. From then on the Colonel's wife is eaten up with jealousy and suspicion, and her life is ruined. The wheel has come full circle.
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