"I did. Do you know him?"
Donnell drew back his lips from a row of black and broken teeth.
"I met him — once."
"You look like meeting him again," said the girl shortly.
Donnell was not immediately impressed. He took a pipe from his pocket and began to fill it from a tin on the table.
"What do you mean?"
"He's after you for that show at Essenden's. He came and told me that he was going to take you himself. We shut him up in the cellar and came to warn you ourselves. But he got away somehow and caught the same train as we did. Weald saw him. We didn't see him again at the other end, but he can't be far behind. In fact, I know how far behind he is. He knows I'm coming here and he's hanging just far enough behind to get me into the trap as well. He's after me, too."
Donnell looked from her to Weald.
"Is this a joke?" he demanded.
And Weald's face told him it was not a joke. He turned to the girl again.