'Ere, I can't stand it no longer, I can't. From that night to this I've never 'ad a easy minute. 'Underds and 'underds of times since then I've seed 'im layin' afore me as 'e laid that night. It wos only yesterday, while I wos playin' a game o' pyramids, and the red balls wos scattered all over the table, that all of a suddent there wos the pore chap layin' on the green cloth in the middle of a dozen large, round clots o' blood. It was only a wision, I know, like any number of others I've 'ad, but it turned me sick, and put me off my play so that I couldn't pot a ball all through the game. Never a green field I see but there 'e is, layin' in the middle of it, with the grass all red about 'im. It ain't a pleasant sight, guv'nor, is it? It sets me all of a tremble, and over and over again I've sed to myself, "Make a clean breast of it, Jack, and bring it 'ome to the man wot done the deed. You can't be 'ung for it, you can't, Jack," ses I to myself, "cos your 'and wos never raised agin 'im. Make a clean breast of it, wunst and for all, and get rid of the wisions that's a 'aunting of yer day and night." And now, on the top o' that, you come to me, guv'nor, and ses, "Yer've got to tell me everythink, Jack, about that there murder. Prove to me yer didn't do it, and not a 'air of your 'ead shall be touched. Scot free yer shall go, and for wunst in your life yer'll 'ave the satisfaction of bein' on the right side o' justice." Ses you to me, "Keep yer mouth shut, and yer'll find yerself in a 'ole. Queen's evidence is your game, Jack, if yer know wot's good for yerself."
Well, guv'nor, when I put alongside o' that wot I've read in the papers about somebody givin' of 'isself up for the murder, it makes me think I'd best accept yer orfer. Guv'nor, I do accept it. 'Ere's my 'and. But there's somethink you've got to do fust. You've got to take yer Gospel oath that yer'll be as good as yer word, and that I sha'n't be 'urt for wot I didn't do. You're willing? Well, take it.
That's bindin', mind yer, and don't forgit yer'll be burnt in 'ell fire if yer've swored false. 'Ave yer got anythink else to say afore I start? I don't want to be meddled with once I begin, 'cause it'd be bound to muddle me, and I should git off the track. I must tell everythink I know about myself and my pals and Mr. Louis? It's a large order, but all right. A clean breast I've promised to make, and a clean breast it shall be. 'Ere goes.
There wos three of us, outside of 'im that's gone. Maxwell (that's the only name I knowed 'im by), and Morgan (that's the only name I knowed 'im by), and me. They called me Jack, and if yer don't mind I'll call the other Louis. It saves a lot of time to drop the misters.
There ain't much to tell about myself up to the time I fust set eyes on Maxwell and Morgan. I never learnt a honest trade, and in course I 'ad to do somethink for a livin'. I've been a billiard marker, a race-course runner, a ticker snatcher, a crossin' sweeper (not longer at that nor I could 'elp, it wos playin' it so low), a tout for sharps, a decoy for mugs, a thimble-rigger, a tipster, a nigger minstrel, and I don't know what else. Wunst I wos that 'ard up that I carried a Punch and Judy for a showman mean enough to skin a flint; 'e wouldn't pay me wot wos doo, so me and Toby took our 'ook together. There wos a week I run arter cabs from the railway stations on the chance of a job to carry the luggage in. Yer can't play it much lower nor that, can yer, guv'nor? The things I could tell 'd fill a book if I 'ad the gift to set 'em down. If I'd been eddycated up to it I might 'ave done well among the swells, I'm that neat with the pasteboards. I can shuffle 'em in any way I want, kings at top, aces at bottom, in the middle, anywhere you like. My fingers wos made for it. Set down at all-fours with me, and I'll tell yer every card in yer 'and. With three peas and a thimble I've earnt many a thick 'un. And now yer've got my pickcher. If open confession's good for the soul, I ought to feel comfortable about mine.
It wos billiards as fust brought me and Maxwell and Morgan together. I wos marker at the Jolly Ploughboy under a false name, and when they come in I wos practising the spot stroke, no one else bein' in the room. I'd made thirteen spots, and wos well set for a run, but the minute I set eyes on 'em I began to kid, and missed a lot of winnin' 'azards. I wosn't born yesterday, yer know. They stood watchin' me a little till I laid down my cue and arst 'em if they wanted a game. They looked at each other, and larfed. "O-ho," sed I to myself, "'untin' for mugs."
"If he ain't 'ere at four o'clock," sed Maxwell to Morgan, "we needn't egspect 'im till five."
"That's so," sed Morgan.
They waited till five minutes past four, but the party they wos egspectin' didn't turn up.
"We'll secure the table," sed Maxwell, and arst me 'ow many I'd give 'im in a 'undered.