"You see," said Gunther, "it is not often that McKenna gets double-crossed. When he does, he doesn't particularly relish it. Mrs. Kildair may be perfectly right in bottling up the whole affair; but, after what happened yesterday, Mac isn't going to stop until he gets to the bottom."
"But why disappear?"
"Because, you little white fluffy toy donkey, the last thing in the world Mrs. Kildair wants is to have him do anything at all, and, as you are putty in the hands of any pretty woman, he doesn't intend to have you call him off."
"I'll see Mrs. Kildair at Louise's. What am I to say?"
Gunther shrugged his shoulders.
"Wonder if she's really playing to be Mrs. Slade," he said grimly. "If she is, she'll give that up after tonight."
"What's going to happen to him, Bruce?"
"He'll come out with so little left that a Committee on Virtue will arrest him for indecent exposure—and the country will be saved."
Beecher stopped before the telephone.
"Wonder if Mrs. Kildair really was on the 'phone?" he said meditatively. The thought recalled Miss Charters, but without disturbing his equanimity.