sentence, nor did he
speak again until he reached my door. There he paused, and said lightly,
"I think I should like to discover whether the disappointed lover is at
home to-night. Are you prepared for a little amateur burglary,
Sutgrove?"

"Ready for anything," I assured him.

"It seems a little absurd to suspect Mannering," he remarked
meditatively. "Yet there are times when a woman's intuition is a better
guide than a man's ratiocination."

"You didn't get any clue in Amsterdam, then?" I asked tentatively, for I
was curious to hear the results of his journey.

"No, no. Nothing at all in Holland."

"If Mannering were the Pirate, and had tried to dispose of his plunder
there, you would in all probability have caught him; but he would
scarcely have chosen to go abroad at the same time as yourself," I
remarked.

Forrest emitted a long, low whistle. "By Jove!" he said. "Then it was
indeed he whom I saw in Vienna."

"In Vienna?" I queried.

"When did he leave England?" asked the detective, ignoring my question.

"The very day you left," I replied promptly.

"Come, this is getting interesting," he said. "Tonight we will most
certainly let the Pirate do his worst on the roads. We will look for a
clue to the mystery of his identity nearer home." He looked at his
watch. "It's a little too early to pay our call, so if you don't mind, I
will come in and we can discuss the matter at leisure."

To say that Forrest's enigmatic utterances filled me with excitement,
very inadequately expresses the state of my mind. He followed me
indoors, and, while I mixed a drink for each of us, he saw that the
windows and doors were closed. Then seating himself in an easy chair, he
selected a cigar and remarked--

"Now we can talk."

"I thought you only intended to go to Amsterdam," I began.

"That was my intention," he replied. "But before giving you the results
of my inquiries--it won't take long, by the way--I should like to ask
you one or two questions, if I may?"

"Fire away," I said.

"Did you mention to any one where I had gone?"

"Not to a soul. At least certainly not at the time, though I have
probably mentioned the matter to Miss Maitland since."

"Oh, you young lovers!" he interjected.

"She would not speak of the matter, I know. I gave out to every one else
that you had been recalled to London."

"Anyway, it would not have mattered if she had, as Mannering left on the
same day as myself. Where did he say he w