"All right," said Violet, quickly. "I'll let it go this time; but you hurry up and get that brandy, or I might change my mind. Pull the cork while you're at it, and fetch a decent glass from the dining-room."
Cassie, murmuring thanks with her thick lips, and wiping her eyes with the big knuckles of her right fist, scrambled to her feet, and started again upon her errand.
This time Violet left the door open. She waited till the servant was out of earshot. Then she opened the door to the back stairway, which she herself had twice used to excellent purpose, and, finding nobody there, returned to Schultz.
"Got something for me?" she whispered.
But no haste upon her part would speed his Teutonic caution.
"I asked you," he said, as if he had not observed the little encounter through which he had sat serene and unconcerned, "whether you knew the man who had my job before what I had it."
"Yes—yes, I knew him. Quick!"
"And your name is Miss Violet?"
"You heard the girl call me that. Can't you hustle?"
"I don't want to hustle. If you're the girl I want, you've kept me waitin' here three mornings already."