Either the Brown Robin feared he had been retained by Mr. Mountain, or she had learned, despite his efforts to the contrary, that he really had been.
“Well,” he said, looking at the three brutes, “what is your game?”
“To keep you here all day,” replied one of them.
“Oh, is it?” asked Nick. “What has become of the woman that was here?”
“She has gone out with her husband.”
“Oh, drop that, my lads,” said Nick. “That was the Brown Robin. I knew that when I came in here with her.”
The three men grinned, and one said to the other:
“I told her she couldn’t fool him.”
“I suppose you mean to earn your money by keeping me here?” said Nick.
“Yer right, guv-ner.”