"They were in my charge, and one of them has been abstracted. It was of great value; gold links, holding diamonds."
"Abstracted!" repeated the elder sister, in both concern and surprise, but certainly without the smallest indications of a guilty knowledge. "How? In what manner?"
"It is a mystery. I only left the room when I met you on the staircase, and when I went upstairs to fetch the letter for you. Directly after you left, Lady Sarah came up from dinner, and the bracelet was not there."
"It is incredible, Alice. And no one else entered the room at all, you say? No servant? no——"
"Not any one," interrupted Alice, determined not to speak of Gerard Hope.
"Then, child, it is simply impossible," was the calm rejoinder. "It must have fallen on the ground; or been mislaid in some way."
"It is hopelessly gone. Do you remember seeing it?"
"I do remember seeing amidst the rest a bracelet set with diamonds; but only on the clasp, I think. It——"
"That was another; that one is safe," interrupted Alice. "The one missing is of fine gold links studded with brilliants. Did you see it?"
"Not that I remember. I was there scarcely a minute, for I had only strolled into the back-room just before you came down. To tell you the truth, Alice, my mind was too fully occupied with other things, to take much notice even of jewels. Do not look so perplexed: it will be all right. Only you and I were in the room, you say; and we could not take it."