"Good-night, McKenna," said Beecher in turn.
"Oh, you," said the detective, going off grumbling; "I have a bone to pick with you."
Beecher laughed guiltily when the door had closed.
"By Jove," he said, "McKenna certainly is in bad humor. I'm sorry. But he was off on a tangent, wasn't he?"
CHAPTER XXVI
"Just one thing I would like to know," said Beecher when Mrs. Kildair, following McKenna's lead, had left off with Garraboy's departure.
"What?" she said, noticing his sudden embarrassment.
He could not keep from his face a new consciousness, but he went on lamely:
"Why did Miss Charters come back?"
She laughed at what his manner revealed, and said: