Patsy laughed aloud.
“He’ll be lucky,” he said, “if it’s not his own funeral. That’s what I think he’s going to.”
“What do you mean by saying he’s got a funeral?” asked Nick.
“Because he’s been running among the undertakers and to the Health Board. I know he has got a permit to transport a body across town.”
“A permit?” asked Nick.
“Now what does that mean? And what has that to do with this thing?”
“Cæsar’s ghost!” cried Patsy, “that Englishman hasn’t spoiled our fun by croaking, has he?”
“Follow him, Patsy,” said Nick, “and see what he’s doing here. Then come to the hotel.”
Patsy was off like a flash, and Nick, taking Chick by the arm, took him to the hotel, on the way telling him of all the developments with which Chick was unfamiliar.
Arriving at the hotel, Nick found a note from Ida saying that Lannigan had called Mrs. Ladew to meet him in a carriage at a certain corner of the street she named, at half-past ten that night, and that Ida was going with her as her maid.