“Wait here until we return,” said Everage to the cabman.
The man touched his hat in assent as he thought to himself:
“Them two coves be two detectives on the scent of thieves.”
Everage led the way and Alexander followed him, picking his steps as well as he could through the fermenting filth of the alley, and shuddering to think his child was exposed to such deadly air.
About midway down the alley Everage paused before a tall, tottering tenement house, occupied by the lowest caste of thieves and beggars.
“Here is the place,” he said, opening the door and entering the passage-way without either obstruction or even observation; for at this hour the tenants were out upon their tramps.
Everage led the way up several flights of quaking stairs to the attic floor, which certainly, from its height, had the advantage of a purer air.
Everage opened a door immediately in front of the landing and signed Alexander to enter.
Alick passed the threshold and found himself in a room with a sloping roof and a skylight.
The room was clearer than when he saw it last, for Meg had been supplied with soap, and had kept it so for little Lenny’s sake; but it was almost as bare of furniture as before.