ly 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.

"He said over and over again that he believed it was his aunt's wish
that the girl should have them. And I can tell you, there's no man so
particular as he is about respecting the wishes of the dead.

"Mrs. Pond would have turned over the whole lot to Millie Stevens, I
believe, if it hadn't been for her husband.

"Mr. Pond isn't a rich man, and he didn't feel that he could afford to
yield up a million dollars' worth of property that had been thrown at
him in that way. And, to speak plainly, he isn't the sort of man to let
go of anything that comes within his reach.

"My uncle offered to do the fair thing out of his own pocket, but, as
I've said, the Stevenses wouldn't touch his money; and there the case
has stood ever since.

"The most valuable of the jewels are in the vaults of the Central Safe
Deposit Company in this city. Some of the smaller pieces are in Mrs.
Pond's possession. She is a woman who likes to wear a lot of jewelry,
and, by Jupiter, she can do it now if she likes, for she owns more
diamonds than the Astors.

"Mr. and Mrs. Pond live in Cleveland. Mrs. Pond, as I've told you, is
now visiting her father. You know he bought the old Plummer place on the
shore of Hempstead Harbor, Long Island.

"She has been with him about two weeks. She has two rooms on the second
floor of the house, a sitting-room and a bed-room. The bed-room opens
off the hall. It has only one other door, which leads to her
sitting-room.

"The first robbery occurred on the second day after she had arrived. It
was late in the afternoon.

"Mrs. Pond had been out riding. When she returned she hurried up to her
room to dress for dinner.

"She took off some of her jewelry--some rings, pins and that sort of
thing--and laid them on the dressing-table. Then she went into her
sitting-room.

"Remember, I'm telling this just as she told it. How much of it is fact
and how much is hysterics I can't say. She was scared half out of her
wits by what happened afterward, and may have got