“I am, if young Boland shows up.”
“Well, he’ll be here?”
“Yes, I wrote him an anonymous letter telling him if he wanted to see his girl, he could find her singing at the Cafe Sinister.”
“That ought to fetch him. How about the old man?”
“He sent me word today that he’d be here and that he’d dropped hints to the son he’d heard some bad stuff about the girl.”
“You haven’t talked to him?”
“No; I got my orders. I stayed away.”
“How about the Welcome kid you married?”
“She’s down and out. I sent one of our cappers early in the week to look her up. Somebody’d slipped her a lone five dollar bill. She woke up yesterday morning broke. I don’t know where she’s eating, but I’ve sent word through the district to keep her hungry. She’ll be in tonight.”
Druce spoke with indifference, but the truth was that he was not at all sure that Elsie Welcome would return. He had begun to respect the girl’s strength of character. He had scarcely finished his sentence when he gave a gasp of relief.