Duncan giggled involuntarily, then controlled himself.
“I apologize, Mr. Lingford, I most heartily apologize. I fear I was slightly carried away by my feelings.”
Consul Lingford gulped and sawed the air speechlessly with his arms.
“Slightly, sir? Slightly?” he managed to articulate.
“Boyd,” Minnie called softly from the doorway.
He turned and looked.
“You ARE a joy,” she said.
“And now, Mr. Lingford, I am done with him,” Duncan said. “I turn over what is left to you and the law.”
“That?” Consul Lingford queried, in accent of horror.
“That,” Boyd Duncan replied, looking ruefully at his battered knuckles.