disappear altogether."

"Then captured he must be without delay," I said.

"Though I don't see how Mannering will be affected thereby."

"I am not so sure about that," said Evie.

"You surely cannot think that Mannering is in any way connected with the
Motor Pirate?" I inquired in surprise, for any such idea had long passed
from my mind.

"I don't know," she remarked dreamily; "I don't know. But I should not
be surprised. I really could believe anything about him."

I reminded her of the steps Forrest had taken to assure himself that
there were no grounds for such a suspicion, but she was not convinced;
so I forbore to continue the discussion, changing the conversation to
the arrangements to be made for her proposed visit to Norfolk. It was
decided that I should write at once to my aunt, and that she should be
ready to start the moment I received a reply. We had settled all the
preliminaries by the time the Colonel and Forrest returned, and I bade
her good night, feeling quite easy in my mind.

"I am delighted to be able to congratulate you," said Forrest, the
moment we were outside.

"I am the luckiest man in the world," I replied.

"You are," returned the detective, emphatically. "All the same, I should
not have been sorry if Miss Maitland had stuck to her intention of
refusing to listen to you until after the capture of the Pirate."

"Why?" I demanded.

"For purely selfish reasons," he replied. "I take it you will not be so
keen on the chase. Men in your position don't take risks."

I held out my hand to him. "Put your fist in that," I said. "What I have
promised, I stick to; and, to tell the truth, I was never keener on
anything in my life."

"That's good news for me," he answered, and I could tell from his tone
that he meant it. Besides, he was not a man given to the paying of idle
compliments.

We were walking quietly towards my cottage as we talked, and the impulse
came upon me to confide to him the presentiment which Evie had in regard
to the capture of the Pirate relieving her from her burden of fear. That
necessitated my explaining as well as I could the curious influence
which Mannering exercised over her. Forrest listened attentively.

"Curious," he muttered, when I had finished. "It is very curious that
the fellow should have produced such an impression on Miss Maitland. By
the way, he was not at the Colonel's to-night."

"No," I replied.

"I wonder----" he began. He never finished the