B yomkesh had put up his legs on a table and was fidgeting his feet restlessly. The newspaper was open on his lap. On this monsoon morning, we were spending an idle day at home. The last four days had been spent similarly. We were feeling depressed about spending this day in the same way. The constant movement of his feet, did not disturb his concentration. He was reading the paper. I was smoking a cigarette — none of us was exchanging any words. But how long could we keep quiet? Just for the sake of talking, I said, "Is there any news?"

Byomkesh spoke without lifting his eyes from the paper, "The news is serious. Two culprits have been released."

Hopefully, I said, "Who are they?"

"One is Saratchandra's Charitraheen — he has been released in some cinema halls. The other is Ramanath Neogi — he was released from the Alipur jails. It is a ten day old news — and Kalketu has kindly published it only today!" He turned the paper in frustration and got up.

I realised that he had lost patience because of this dearth of news. It was unfair that on such a rainy day there was no crunchy and hot news. I asked, "Who is Ramanath Neogi?"

Byomkesh began pacing the room. He looked out of the window towards a dull and wet day and said, "Neogi is not an unknown person — a few years back his name was published in large print on newspaper."

"You have not answered my question — who is he?"

"He is a thief — not a petty pilferer but a jewel thief. He was as intelligent as bold and daring," Byomkesh heaved a sigh of regret, " Nowadays one doesn't find such great criminals."

I said sarcastically, "It is really the misfortune of our country. But why was his name printed in large letters?"

"Because at last he was caught and tried in a court of law." Byomkesh picked up a cigarette from a tin and lit it carefully, relaxed in his chair and said, "I still remember the incidents although it was ten years ago. I had just started my work — it was long before I met you."

I noticed that though he had started talking casually, he was gradually becoming animated as he recalled the past. I thought that it was better to listen to an interesting story on a dull, lazy, rainy day, rather than be bored. So I said, "Tell me the story."

Byomkesh said, "There is no story — but the whole incident is a mystery to me. The police had worked very hard and showed some success too but could not retrieve the real thing."

"What was the real thing?"

"During that year, there was a sudden spate of jewellry theft in this city of Calcutta — today Jawaharlal Hiralal was robbed, the next day Dutta jewellers was burgled — in fifteen days at least five large shops suffered great losses, mounting to lakhs of rupees. Police started investigating.

"Then, there was a burglary in Maharaja Ramendra Sinha's house. I won't insult your knowledge by telling you who he is. There are very few Bengalis who are not acquainted with his name. He is as rich as he is benevolent. There are few like him nowadays. He is in a bit of trouble now — but let that be. He was a collector of precious stones. The stones were displayed in a glass case in a room in the second floor of his house. The room was guarded continuously — and very well. But even then there was a break in. Two guards were found lying unconscious and quite a few jewels were stolen.

"Maharaja had a blue diamond in his collection — he treasured this stone because he thought that it brought him luck — he wore it in a ring. But lately the stone had become loose. So he had kept it in the room and was thinking of calling a jeweller to reset it in another ring. This blue diamond was also stolen.

"I don't know how much knowledge you have of diamonds. But blue diamonds are rare and exquisite stones. The value of blue diamonds doesn't depend only on their weight but are priced, especially in our country, on their powers of changing the fortune of a person. The blue diamond is supposed to be the stone of the planet Saturn. It is common belief that if a blue diamond is worn and it suits the person — he can rise from rags to riches and if it does not suit a person, he can become a pauper. The effect of the blue diamond is either very good or very bad depending on the person wearing it, and whether it suits the person. So the value of these blue diamonds is not determined by their weight. I have seen a Marwari gentleman paying thousands for a tiny piece of blue diamond. I am not superstitious by nature but even I have been forced to admit the powers of this particular stone.

"Anyway, when this diamond was stolen from his house — the Maharaja raised a great hue and cry. Although he had lost thousands of rupees worth of precious stones he was most concerned about this particular diamond. He announced that even if the thief was not caught, and if anyone could give him back the diamond he would reward him amply. The police started investigating with great gusto — they even employed their detective Nirmal babu for the job.

"Nirmal babu is unknown to you, but he is really very intelligent. I was fortunate to know him, he has retired now. Within seven days, Nirmal babu recovered all the stolen jewels with the burglar — who was no other than our Ramanath Neogi. Although all the stones were found after searching his house, the blue diamond was missing.

"Later, Ramanath was consigned to the jail