Why does Mr. Kelada behave the way he does in Mr. Know-All?

(SPOILER ALERT)

Throughout the story, Mr. Kelada tries to ingratiate himself to the narrator and others, probably trying to fit into a society that he had become familiar with, but was not born into.

In the key sequence, he loses a bet about some pearls belonging to a married woman. He belatedly notices that she fears her husband will discover they are real, as she obviously lied to him about them and how she got them.