he allowed to remain on Madden’s ranch?
In the patio, the boy had a few whispered words with Ah Kim, telling him the news about Evelyn Madden.
“Thorn and professor home now,” the detective said. “I notice mileage—thirty-nine, as before. And bits of red clay on floor of cab.”
Eden shook his head. “Time is passing,” he remarked.
Chan shrugged. “If I could arrest it, I would do so,” he replied.
At the dinner table, Professor Gamble was amiability personified.
“Well, well, Mr. Eden, we’re glad to have you back with us. Sorry to have you miss any of this desert air. Your business—if I may presume—your business prospered?”
“Sure did,” smiled Eden. “And how does yours go?”
The professor looked at him quickly. “I—er—I am happy to say I have had a most gratifying day. I found the very rat I was looking for.”
“Fine for you, but hard on the rat,” said Eden, and the dinner proceeded in silence.
When they rose from the table, Madden lighted a cigar and dropped into his favorite chair before the fire. Gamble sat down with a magazine beside a lamp. Eden took out a packet of cigarettes, lighted one, wandered about. Thorn also selected a magazine. The big clock struck the hour of seven, and then an air of almost intolerable quiet settled over the room.
Eden paused at the radio. “Never could see the sense of these things until I came down here,” he explained to Madden. “I realize now there are times when even a lecture
