"Then you weren't as drunk as you seemed?"
"Didn't you catch me making a move the minute you created a diversion? Of course, I'd no idea you were friendly—"
"Look here," P. Sybarite interrupted sharply: "doesn't it hurt you to talk?"
"No—helps me forget this ache."
"All right, then—tell me how this came about. What has Red November got on you, to make him so anxious—?"
"Nothing, as far as I know; unless it was Brian Shaynon's doing—"
"A-ah!"
"You know that old blighter?"
"Slightly—very slightly."
"Friend of yours?"