"Good evening."
It was the leader of the gang who had spoken, smiling and rubbing his hands softly the one on the other, as pleased, apparently, as any purring cat.
"Good evening," I responded curtly.
"May we ask to what we owe the pleasure of your presence here?" he continued suavely, but watching me closely meanwhile.
"My presence here?" I said, as if surprised by the question. "Why shouldn't I come here, any more than you? It is a public place, isn't it? And I came here to smoke opium, as you and your friends have done, I suppose; just as one goes to a tavern for a glass of beer."
"Not at all," he replied. "This is a private house, just as much as your own house is, and you have no more right to force your way into it, than I have to force myself into yours. You stand in the position of a trespasser. For all I know to the contrary, you may even be what in America they call an area sneak-thief, except for the fact that you have sneaked your way to the top of the house instead of to the area. May I ask who directed you here? I must ask, for I insist upon having an answer."
"'Must' and 'insist' are not palatable words or pleasant," I said; "but I don't know that I have any objection to tell you. It was a negro match-seller whom I saw outside Poplar Station. I offered him two shillings if he would take me to an opium den, and it was to this house he led me."
"Ah! A negro match-seller, and outside Poplar Station. Oh, yes. I think I know the fellow. We must look into this."
He stopped to cast a sidelong glance at the other man, who nodded and, walking to the door, stood whispering to his two confederates outside. Fearing that they were planning to attack me from behind, I twisted my head slightly so as to keep half an eye and the whole of an ear towards them, but not so much so as not to have the other eye open to any movement of their leader, who was still in the room. As he was silent, I was now able to give both ears to the whispering outside; but what it was about I could not for all the sharpness of my hearing make out, except for the fact that I distinctly caught the words "Black Sam."
Then, greatly to my relief, the two men, with whom the fellow at the door was whispering, nodded and took their departure, clumping heavily down the staircase to the second landing, to the first, and thence to the door. Here I distinctly heard a sound as of the letting go of a spring latch, which in all probability locked the door from the inside. Then the door was banged to, as if to ensure that it was securely shut; but even this did not satisfy them, for, if I were not very much mistaken, they tried it, before leaving, by pushing heavily against it from the outside.