However, we drank our beer and then strolled out, turning north along Seventh Avenue. Presently we boarded a Seventh Avenue car, and stood out on the front platform until we got off at 55th Street.
We turned east on 55th, and Larry led me into a doorway and up a flight of stairs into a little pool room with only a couple of pool tables in it.
“This place is all right,” he whispered. “ ’Tis an old joint of mine. Now we can sit down and palaver fer a bit. ’Tis too early to start anything yet.”
We found two chairs and sat watching the game. “Don’t you think we ought to look the place over from the outside first?” I asked him.
Larry grinned. “Sure, what wud Oi be doin’ the whole blessed afternoon?” he demanded.
I stared at him. “Do you mean to say——”
“Asy now, sor,” he grinned. “Sure, ’twas no risk at all, at all, to be slouchin’ by the house a few toimes. An’ I had a bit av luck, sor. A woman druv up in a taxi wid a big trunk. I helped the taxi driver up the stairs with ut, and then had a good look out the back windows while the woman was payin’ him off. ’Twas but two doors away from the house we’re afther, an’ I got the lay av the land. You lave the gittin’ in to me, sor. ’Twill be as asy as kiss yer hand.”
“Maybe, Larry,” I whispered. “But we want some idea of who’s in the place, too. I think we’d better get as close as we can and keep an eye on the house for an hour or so. We don’t want to run into the whole pack of them. And maybe we can get an idea of what they’re up to also.”
“ ’Tis a good notion, sor. Let’s go.” And we tramped out again.
Mrs. Fawcette’s house was in the middle of the block between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It was a brown-stone house with two sets of double doors up a flight of stone steps and a heavy iron grille leading into the basement. To me it looked absolute madness to attempt to break in. But I had a good deal of faith in Larry by this time. So I was principally intent on watching the house and getting an idea as to how many of Mrs. Fawcette’s friends we would find there.