“Because—oh, hang it! Do I have to explain everything to you? My head’s aching again. Unless you go away and stop bothering me, I’ll call the police.”
Penny was completely crushed. She had been so sure that the man was her father! Seemingly she had made a very stupid mistake.
“I’ll go,” she said quietly.
Retreating down the stairway, she left the opened telegram on the living-room table and switched off the light. Then unlocking the kitchen door, she rejoined Louise and Joe.
“I guess you didn’t have any luck,” her chum commented, observing her downcast face.
Penny ruefully admitted that the man who had been seen in the garden was Lester Jones.
“I knew he wasn’t your father,” Louise replied. “You wouldn’t listen to reason—”
“All the same, his voice was similar,” Penny cut in. “Why, the man even used one of Dad’s pet expressions.”
“What was it?” Louise inquired curiously.
“‘Oh, hang it!’ That’s the expression Dad uses when he’s irritated.”