“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 positively that she had made a much later will in favor of Millie Stevens.  But the document couldn’t be found, and so the old one was submitted for probate.

“The colonel expected a contest, but the Stevenses did not make a murmur.  It must have been a tremendous disappointment to them, but they bore it with perfect good nature.  They didn’t seem to feel half so badly about it as my uncle did.  If he had had his way, he would have given all the jewels to Miss Stevens.