hat Evie had
mentioned to me concerning him, and I finished by warning him that I was
determined to exercise the right she had given me to protect her. He
listened to me attentively and, one might have thought, even
sympathetically. When I had concluded, he sat silent awhile; then,
looking me full in the eyes, he remarked--

"I suppose, Sutgrove, if I tell you that this story of the influence I
am supposed to exercise over Miss Maitland is absolute news to me, you
will not believe me?"

I was staggered, and my astonishment must have been visible in my face,
for he continued--

"You may be surprised, but not half so much as I have been, by what you
have told me. Really, the whole story sounds the maddest farrago of
nonsense I have ever heard."

I was about to make an angry retort, but he checked me with a gesture--

"I do not mean any offence," he said; "for I can quite understand what
your feelings on the subject must be. I, no more than yourself, would
tolerate any unwarrantable interference such as you describe. It is just
as well that you should have mentioned the matter to me, however, for
you will know so much better how to proceed."

"What do you mean?" I gasped.

"Why, what else than that you will not waste any time before obtaining
medical advice for Miss Maitland," he replied.

I felt a grey horror creeping over me--a horror that tied my tongue, to
think that Evie--my Evie--might prove to be--mad. Again, he must have
divined my thoughts, for he said reassuringly--

"You must not take too serious a view of the case. Miss Maitland is of a
highly nervous temperament, and, I should imagine, rather prone to
hysteria." Then, rising, he clapped me on the shoulder, "Take a cheerful
view, Sutgrove. I'll bet you ten to one that her doctor will inform you
that marriage will provide a complete cure."

His tone was so hearty, so friendly, that I instinctively grasped his
hand, and he returned my grip.

The subject was not resumed; and, as we walked back to the hotel, I was
completely convinced that I had been an unutterable cad ever to allow a
single doubt concerning him to enter my mind, much less to harbour
there.

I left him at the hotel door and went in search of my car to continue my
journey to Sutgrove Hall. He was still standing where I parted from him
when I swept past, and he waved his hand to me, a smile upon his face.

CHAPTER XX

RELATES HOW THE PIRATE HOLDS UP AN AUGUST PERSONAGE

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