"Now, if you pay for it," replied the man insolently.
"What do you mean?" asked the detective.
"Just what I say," said the other. "We get our pay here by the hour, and if you want my time why you'll have to pay for it at union rates," and he laughed as though a good joke had been propounded.
"Then," said Mr. Barnes, taking in the kind of a man with whom he had to deal, "I'll engage you on a job that I have for you, and pay you double wages as long as I use you."
"Now you are talking," said the fellow. "Where'll we go?"
"I think I'll take you to my hotel." And thither they proceeded. Up in his own room again, Mr. Barnes felt at ease, whilst his companion certainly made himself comfortable, selecting a rocking-chair, and putting his feet up on the window-sill.
"Now then," began Mr. Barnes, "I want to ask you a few questions. Are you prepared to answer them?"
"That will depend on what they are. If you don't ask impertinent questions, or ones that I think I ought to get more than double wages for answering, why, I am with you."
"In the first place, then, are you willing to say whether you ever knew a woman who called herself Rose Mitchel?"