"Duty is an odd word to use—a very odd word. But we won't waste time discussing that. You sent a message to me by a girl this evening?"
Mrs. Higgs nodded.
"You want me to defend one of the rascals who make this place their hole, their den?"
Again Mrs. Higgs signified assent.
"Well, I shall do nothing of the kind. I have done more than enough for you already. I have offered you the means of taking yourself off and of living like a decent creature. I have done everything you could expect, and more. But I will not be mixed up with you and the gang you choose to make your friends; and I will not lift a finger to save your friend the pickpocket from the punishment he deserves."
Dudley spoke with decision, but he made no impression worth speaking of upon his hearer. She continued to look at him with the same expression of dull malignity; and when she spoke, it was without vehemence.
"Well," she began, leaning forward a little more and keeping her eyes fixed upon him, "perhaps you won't have the chance of defending anybody long. There's been a woman about here lately, making inquiries and hunting about, and one of these fine days she may light upon something that'll put her upon your track."
"What do you mean? Whom do you mean?"
"Why, Edward Jacobs's widow, of course. She had an idea where to look, you see."
Dudley could not hide the fact that he was much disturbed by this intelligence.