"Perfectly certain. Another small case was lying on the table. She took it up. 'Look,' she said, 'this was a present to your father. It is one of the most beautiful diamonds I have ever seen. It can be worn either in a ring, or as a pin, or as a stud.' She attached it to three pieces of gold which were with it in the case, to let me see how that was managed. 'Did he often wear it?' I asked. 'No,' she said; 'he didn't.' And she laughed. 'Your father scarcely ever wore ornaments of any kind. And this is much too fine a stone for a gentleman to wear. But it is worth a great deal of money all the same.'" "Of course I knew about father's jewels," chorused Dick. "Once, when I was quite a little chap, she showed me a magnificent gold repeater watch, and told me it was father's, and that perhaps one day it would be mine. She touched a spring and let me hear it chime the hours, and the quarters, and the minutes. There were a lot of other things besides, though I can't tell you quite what, and I fancy there were two or three more watches." "Where did your mother keep this despatch-box?' asked Mr Sanford. "Where we found it, and where she kept all her private papers--locked up in her bureau." "But neither the bureau nor the box showed any signs of having been tampered with." "Of course not. Mr Miller borrowed mother's keys, without asking leave, and had the free run of everything. We knew nothing about what was going on. All he had to do was to unlock things, and walk off with what he wanted. Pretty idiots we were to let him get clean away with them. Goodness only knows what he has taken." Mr Sanford, who had been serious enough all through, looked graver than ever when Dick said that. "That is exactly the point. Under the circumstances it is difficult for us to determine what may not be missing. I am afraid that Mr Miller is an unprincipled person." "There's no fear about that--it's a dead sure thing. He's a confounded highway robber, as well as a miserable area sneak." Dick's language is so strong. But Mr Sanford did not seem to notice it. "If all the items mentioned were in the despatch-box at the time of your mother's decease, and the correctness of her list is to be implicitly relied upon--" "If mother says a thing was there, it was there; you can bet on that." "Then, in that case, it seems only too probable that Mr Miller has robbed you of a very large amount of valuable property--" "I'd like to have the flogging of him!" "Besides the will, which is itself of cardinal importance; and your father's jewels, which evidently were worth a considerable sum--" "I should think so!"