“Then in the interval I can leave the house,” said Gray.
“You can. But Jim must be paid.”
“Oh, certainly. I have two hundred pounds, gentlemen; I hope you will accept of one of them for your very great kindness, and leave me the other.”
“What do you say to that, Bill?” cried the man who had come with Gray.
“I think it’s fair,” said the other.
“Well, then, that’s agreed.”
“Thank you, gentlemen,” said Gray, breathing a little more freely at the idea of getting off with nearly all his money.
“Now then,” said Bill, “come down stairs, as all business matters are settled, and have a bit of supper.”
“I shall be grateful for it,” said Gray, “for I have tasted nothing to-day.”
He did not perceive the wink that passed between his new friends, but at once followed them from the attic to the lower part of the crazy tenement.