nd all that sort of
thing.

"That's the only serious part of it. The jewels that have been stolen
aren't worth over a couple of thousand dollars, all told.

"Of course, it's a nuisance to have such a thing happen in anybody's
house, but we wouldn't care much if the mysterious circumstances were
not driving my uncle's mind back to his pet delusion."

"What are these mysterious circumstances?" asked the detective.

"Why, it's like this: Colonel Richmond's aunt, Miss Lavina Richmond, was
a queer old lady, who was once very rich. At that time she had a passion
for collecting jewels. She used to invest her money in diamonds, just as
another person might buy houses or railroad stock.

"Only about a tenth part of her fortune was invested so that she got any
income out of it. In the last part of her life she lost all that part
of her property, so that she hadn't anything in the world but her jewels.

"She wouldn't sell one, and there she was as poor in one sense as a
lodger in City Hall Square--for she hadn't a cent of money--and yet
owning diamonds and other precious stones worth nearly a million
dollars.

"She wouldn't borrow on them; she wouldn't do anything but keep them
locked up; and so she had to depend absolutely on my uncle for the
necessities of life.

"He didn't mind that, of course, for he had plenty. She lived at his
house, and eventually died there.

"She and my uncle never got along well, in spite of his kindness to her,
and she had no friends except a Mrs. Stevens and her daughter. They're
related to the Richmonds, but the money is all in the colonel's branch
of the family.

"Mrs. Stevens and Millie, her daughter, are poor. They have just enough
to live on. The colonel would take care of them, but they won't have it.
They're too proud.

"Now, everybody thought that old Miss Lavina Richmond would leave her
tremendous pile of diamonds to Millie Stevens. Indeed, Miss Richmond
used to say so continually. I've heard her say, in the colonel's
presence, that Miss Stevens should have the jewels; that such was her
wish.

"Well, she died suddenly a year or more ago, and the only will that
could be found was dated many years back, and left everything she
possessed to the colonel's daughter.

"It was the greatest surprise that you can imagine. We all knew that
such a will had been made, but we hadn't the slightest idea that it
still existed, and that she had made no other. On the contrary, we knew
positive