eory was one which in a
measure would excuse him. He was delighted to have the chance of
confiding his views to the detective. "You see," he continued, "it is
one of the most difficult things in the world to say who is, and who is
not perfectly sane. Some experts contend that nine tenths of the people
in the world are affected by mania in some form or other. I hold that
any man who makes a collection of any kind of things, using them for
other than their legitimate uses, is in a measure insane."

"Do you mean legally insane? That is to say irresponsible?"

"As to responsibility, I cannot say. But I think such a mania might
tempt a man to an illegal act. I must explain my idea further. Postage
stamps undoubtedly have a very important value. One who collects them
after they have been cancelled, paying many times their face value for
them, is in my opinion somewhat crazy, since he pays a fictitious price
for what has no intrinsic value."

"You might say the same thing of paintings. The intrinsic value
represented in canvas and oil is little, yet thousands of dollars are
paid for pictures."

"That, too, is an insanity, one of course which cannot be indulged in by
any save the rich. But it is not the same as with the old stamp craze.
Pictures remind us of nature, and appeal to the senses of all mankind,
by recalling recollections brought into being by the scene presented.
There is therefore a legitimate use for paintings, and a reasonable
price as compensation for the work and genius of the artist is perhaps
permissible. But should a man pay a fortune for a single canvas and then
hang it in a room in his own house where it will be seen by few save
himself, that man I should consider demented. So with jewels----"

"Ah! What of them?"

"Jewels have a market value, and a place in the world. But when a man
goes about buying up every magnificent specimen that can be found, and
then locks his treasures up in a safe, he is simply a crazy man pure and
simple."

"What has all this to do with the case in hand?"

"Everything. My friend is a crank on the subject of jewels. Sensible,
and entertaining on any other topic, if you mention the name of any
kind of jewel, he is off in a minute, giving a long history of this or
that celebrated stone. His especial craze in this connection, is to
relate the crimes that have surrounded every stone of any great price.
He has made my blood curdle at his ghastly tales of cruel murder,
commit