"What did he come for?" thundered the colonel.
"It was not an intentional visit. I believe he only followed the impulse of the moment. He saw me at the front window; and Thomas, it appears, was standing at the door. He ran across, and came up."
"I think you might have said so, Alice," observed Lady Sarah, in a stiff tone.
"Knowing he had been forbidden the house, I did not wish to bring him under the colonel's displeasure," was all the excuse Alice could offer. "It was not my place to tell of it."
"I presume he approached sufficiently near the bracelets to touch them, had he wished?" observed the officer, who of course had now made up his mind upon the business—and upon the thief.
"Y—es," returned Alice, wishing she could have said "No."
"Did you notice the bracelet there, after he was gone?"
"I cannot say I did. I followed him from the room when he left, and then I went into the front-room, so that I had no opportunity of observing the bracelets."
"The doubt is solved," was the mental comment of the detective officer.
The colonel, hot and hasty, sent several servants various ways in search of Gerard Hope. He was speedily found, and brought; coming in with a smile on his frank, good-looking face.