"Friends," said Moriarty with a horrible leer on his face. "Sure, that's what I'm wishin' to be, only you're so cowld. Come here wid me now," said Moriarty, taking the other's arm and leading him towards the loose-box next The Cat's, "and I'll show you me intintions. Maybe it's the likin' I've taken for you, or maybe it's just the stringth of your arguments, but you've convarted me to the sociality bizness, and I'm goin' to share and share alike wid you."
He opened the loose-box door, and there in the darkness stood Andy, like a horrible gnome.
"Why, what are you doin' here, Andy?" asked Moriarty, with an undercurrent of jocularity in his tone that struck Mr. Piper as being out of place and allied to the sinister.
"I?" said Andy. "Nothin'."
"I've brought a friend wid me," said Moriarty, speaking as though Piper were an absolute stranger to Andy. "He's comin' into the loose-box wid us to help me dhrink his health."
"Thank you," said Piper, "I never drink."
He took a step backwards, but Moriarty's hand fell on his arm.
"Just for wanst, now," said Moriarty, in the tone of sweet persuasion that a boon companion uses to a boon companion. "Just for wanst."
"Thank you, I never drink," said Piper, with a rising inflexion that did not improve his voice. "And I'd thank you to release my arm."