CHAPTER XXIII.
ARTHUR'S LETTER.
Two weeks had passed since Jerry's return to her lessons, and people had ceased to talk of the missing diamonds, although the offered reward of $500 was still in the weekly papers, and a detective still had the matter in charge, without, however, achieving the slightest success.

No one had ever been suspected, and the thief, whoever he was, must have been an expert, and managed the affair with the most consummate skill.
Now that she had another set, Mrs.Tracy was content, and peace and quiet reigned in the household, except so far as Arthur was concerned.
He was restless and nervous, and given to fits of abstraction, which sometimes made him forget the two little girls, one of whom watched him narrowly; and once when they were alone and he seemed unusually absorbed in thought, she asked him if he were trying to think of something.
'Yes,' he said, looking up quickly and eagerly; 'that is it.

I am trying to remember something which, it seems to me, I ought to remember; but I cannot, and the more I try, the farther it gets from me.

Do you know what it is ?' Jerry hesitated a moment, and then she asked: 'Is it the diamonds ?' 'Diamonds! No.

What diamonds?
Didn't I tell you never to say diamonds to me again?
I am tired of it,' he said, and in his eyes there was a gleam which Jerry had never seen there before when they rested upon her.