'Jerrie's interests are safe with me,' he said, 'and by the time you return everything will be explained; but find Mr. Tracy as soon as possible. I am inclined to think your theory with regard to him correct.'
So it was decided that Harold should go, and the next night was appointed for him to start. Had he known that Peterkin, and even Mrs. Tracy, were each in his or her own way insinuating that he was running from public opinion, nothing could have induced him to leave. But he did not know it, and went about his preparations with as brave a heart as he could command under the circumstances. Jerrie was more quiet now, though every effort on his part to learn anything from her concerning the diamonds brought on a fit of raving, when she would insist that the jewels were hers, and must be brought to her at once.
'But you told me they were Mrs. Tracy's,' he said to her once.
With a cunning gleam in her eyes, she replied:
'So they are, or were; but oh, how little you know!'
And this was all he could get from her.
He told her he was going away, but that did not seem to affect her, and she only began to talk of Maude, who, she said, must not be harmed.
'Have you seen her? have you seen her?' she kept saying.
'Not yet,' he replied, 'but I am going to say good-bye;' and on the day of his departure he went to the Park House and asked if he could see Maude.
'Of course not,' was Mrs. Tracy's prompt reply, when the request was taken to her. 'No one sees her, and I certainly shall not allow him to enter her room.'