"Why should it?" she asked.
"They often do," he replied.
"Not if the old friendships are the real thing," I interjected.
"No; not if they are the real thing," he repeated slowly. "I hope you will find mine to be the real thing."
A faint smile fluttered across his face as he spoke, and was gone in an instant. Neither Evie nor myself knew what to reply, and an awkward pause ensued. He seemed to feel the awkwardness of it just as much as either of us, and he changed the subject with an inquiry as to whether anything further had been heard or seen of the Motor Pirate during his own absence in Paris.
"I have been far too busy to even look at the papers," he explained, "and he might have been captured for all I know."
"No such luck," I replied. "This time he seems to have disappeared for good."
"I see I shall have to take up your job, and devote my energies to the task of his capture," he said laughingly. And, turning to Evie, he said, "I presume you will not allow Sutgrove to take any risks of that sort now, Miss Maitland?"
Again there was something sarcastic in his tone, and I could see by the flush in Evie's cheek that the question had angered her. She answered almost hotly—
"I am quite sure if any one can capture the Pirate, Jim can."