In a short time, by using the free-and-airy style now so natural to him, McKenna succeeded in putting all present completely at their ease, and Miss Higgins, as well as her sister, Mrs. Kerrigan, begun to think they had known him since they were children. As for Jimmy Kerrigan, he was already confidential with his brother Mollie from Shenandoah. But the whisky toddy soon put the “babe” out of the way, as he was forced to admit that he had taken several glasses before reaching home, and the liquor he drank with the family disagreed with it, getting up a reaction in his system making a recumbent position indispensable. Mrs. Kerrigan marched her liege lord off to bed. It was a very pleasant evening that the operative enjoyed with Mrs. Kerrigan and her unmarried sister, after the exodus of the noisy fellow claiming the house as his home, and when he bade the ladies good night, at a late hour, they united in cordial requests that he should visit them often. Miss Higgins, especially, was pressing, in her modest way, to have the caller not forget their humble place of residence. “Sure, an’ I will not!” said McKenna, “an’, all in due sayson, I hope I may be able to take revinge on the young lady that so surprised me at the Polish wedding!” This last remark in a whisper, at the door. “Hush!” warningly exclaimed the lady, her face the color of a blooming rose. But Mrs. Kerrigan saw nothing, heard nothing. “I’m as silent as the churchyard I’m goin’ to walk beside,” said the operative, with a roguish smile, as he took his final leave. “She’s a very fine girl,” soliloquized the officer, while walking to the Columbia House. “What a pity she is of such a family! And to think that I must get her brother-in-law hanged! Oh, I never can hope to have ‘Miss Higgins’ transformed into ‘Mrs. McParlan!’ Brother-in-law to a murderer! No! Never!” Despite this decision the dreams of the detective, that night, were not fated to be entirely deserted by the girl by whom he had been victimized at the Krozenski nuptials.