Collins Wilkie. The Moonstone

Webster’s Thesaurus Edition for PSAT, SAT, GRE, LSAT, GMAT, and AP English Test Preparation.Address these lines — written in India — to my relatives in England.
My object is to explain the motive which has induced me to refuse the right
hand of friendship to my cousin, John Herncastle. The reserve which I have
hitherto maintained in this matter has been misinterpreted by members of my
family whose good opinion I cannot consent to forfeit. I request them to
suspend their decision until they have read my narrative. And I declare, on my
word of honour, that what I am now about to write is, strictly and literally, the
truth.
The private difference between my cousin and me took its rise in a great
public event in which we were both concerned — the storming of Seringapatam,
under General Baird, on the 4th of May, 1799.
In order that the circumstances may be clearly understood, I must revert for a
moment to the period before the assault, and to the stories current in our camp of
the treasure in jewels and gold stored up in the Palace of Seringapatam.