"Aw now—"
"You were."
"Aw now—"
"Nobody can fool me on your step. You tiptoed for all you were worth, but I knew it! The-ball-of your-foot—squeak! The-ball-of-your foot—squeak!"
"Sure enough, now you mention it, maybe for a minute around eleven, but only for a minute—"
"Please, Getaway, don't lie. It was for nearly all night. Comings and goings on my ceiling until I couldn't sleep, not because they were so noisy, but because they were so soft. Like ugly whispers. Is Monkey the friend you got the deal on with, Getaway?"
"We just sat up there talking old times—"
"And Muggs, about eleven o'clock, sneaking up through the halls, dressed like the messenger boy again. I saw him when I peeked out of the door to see who it was tiptoeing. Getaway, for God's sake—"
He closed over her wrist then, his face extremely pointed. It was a bony face, so narrow that the eyes and the cheek bones had to be pitched close, and his black hair, usually so shiny, was down in a bang now, because it was damp, and to Marylin there was something sinister in that dip of bang which frightened her.
"What you don't know don't hurt you. You hear that? Didn't I tell you that after a few days this business deal—business, get that?—will be over. Then I'm going to hold down any old job your heart desires. But first I'm going to have money in my pockets! That's the only way to make this old world sit up and take notice. Spondulicks! Then I'm going to carry you off and get spliced. See? Real money. Diamonds. If you weren't so touchy, maybe you'd have diamonds sooner than you think. Want one now?"