"Say, gentlemen, I am not aristocratic; I don't put on airs; I'd just as soon play down here."
"No, it is much nicer upstairs. We can have a quiet game and take our refreshments," and addressing the bartender the man asked:
"Are you putting up the best every time, Sandy?"
"Sure, I do; I knows me business, I do; I knows when a gentleman stands in front of the bar."
Young reader, this may be a lonely sort of siren play, but it is true to life and should prove a lesson. The men were flattering the dude, and flattery is always based on design and a selfish motive. Beware of the flatterer in the first place. Eschew gambling—if you are only playing for fun it costs as much as though you were playing to make money. It is demoralizing every time, and often leads to greater crime. Gambling is a very dangerous amusement. These men were working the dude, and it is, as we have intimated, an actual incident we are describing. The conversation we reproduce verbatim. They were alluring the young man to rob him, and if the stake had been big enough these birds of prey would willingly have murdered their victim in the end to cover up the lesser crime with the greater, for they were believers in the false logic that "dead men tell no tales." We say false logic, for dead men, though their lips are silent, as a rule—ay, almost always—leave silent testimonies behind that speak for them, and crime is always revealed. The silence of the murdered is a dangerous release, for murder "will out," though, as stated, the lips of the victims are sealed in death.
Dudie Dunne played well his part. He did not readily consent to go upstairs. He was playing a great game, playing on novel plans, taking great chances, and for the rascals who were alluring him he had a great surprise in reserve.
After much persuasion he consented to go upstairs, but still continued to assure the men that he had no idea of robbing them.
"But you will teach us some new points."
"You'll have to watch me then, for I am giving nothing away."
The men ascended to a room on the second floor, a rear room.