'Wants to sling his hook. Says he's had about enough of it.'
'Oh, he has, has he? Now, Cox, listen to me. It's through you we're here--'
Interrupting, Mr Cox raised his hat and stick in a hasty disclaimer.
'Was there ever anything like that? It was your suggestion entirely. You said you could twist your lady friend round your finger--'
'Let's go a little further back, my Cox. You've told me--how many times?--that if I lose my uncle's money you'll send me to gaol. Not being anxious to go to gaol, I'm doing my best to get my uncle's money. So if it's not through you I'm here, I should like to know through whom it is.'
'That's different; you're entering on other matters altogether. You've committed--you know what you've committed; but it doesn't follow, because you've brought yourself within the reach of the criminal law, that I want to bring myself too.'
'You hand over those pieces of paper which you're always flicking in my face, and you're at liberty to go through that door, and down the stairs, and neither the Flyman nor I will ever breathe a word about your having been connected with the evening's entertainment.'
'Do you take me for a fool? You've robbed me on your own account already, and now you want to jockey me into robbing myself. Don't talk to me like that!'
'No, I won't talk to you like that; I'll talk to you like this. What there'll be to pay for this evening's proceedings I don't know; but you'll pay your share, whatever it is. This is a game of share and share alike, and of in for a penny in for a pound. The Flyman and I are going to see this through. I'm going to have the ruby before I leave, I tell you that; and you're going to be in with us right along.'
'Burton, you're a villain!'