Page:The Mystery of a Hansom Cab.djvu/135

Rh "Mr. Fitzgerald, the gentleman you brought the letter for to the Melbourne Club."

"Oh, 'im?" said Sal, a sudden light breaking over her wan face. "I never know'd his name afore."

Calton nodded, complacently.

"I knew you didn't," he said, "that's why you didn't ask for him at the Club."

"She never told me 'is name," said Sal, jerking her head in the direction of the bed.

"Then who did she ask you to bring to her?" asked Calton, eagerly.

"No one," replied the girl. "This was the way of it: On that night she was orfil ill, an' I sat beside 'er while gran' was asleep."

"I was drunk, blarst ye," broke in gran', fiercely; "none of yer d——d lies; I was blazin' drunk, glory hallelujah."

"An' she ses to me, she ses," went on the girl, indifferent to her grandmother's interruption, "'Get me some paper an' a pencil, an' I'll write a note to 'im, I will.' So I goes an' gits 'er what she arsks fur out of gran's box."

"Stole it, blarst ye," shrieked the old hag, shaking her fist.

"Hold your tongue," said Kilsip, in a peremptory tone. Mother Guttersnipe burst into a volley of oaths, and, having run rapidly through all she knew, subsided into a sulky silence.

"She wrote on it," went on Sal, "and then asked me to take it to the Melbourne Club an' give it to 'im. Ses I, 'Who's 'im?' Ses she, 'It's on the letter; don't you arsk no questions an' you won't 'ear no lies, but give it to 'im at the Club, an' wait for 'im at the corner of Bourke Street and Russell Street.' So out I goes, and gives it to a cove at the Club, an' then 'e comes along, and ses 'e 'Take me to 'er,' and I tooked 'im."

"And what like was the gentleman?"

"Oh, werry good lookin'," said Sal. "Werry tall, with yeller 'air an' mustache. He 'ad party clothes on, an' a masher coat, and a soft 'at."

"That's Fitzgerald right enough," muttered Calton. "And what did he do when he came?"

"He goes right up to 'er, and she ses, 'Are you 'e'? and 'e ses, 'I am.' Then ses she, 'Do you know what I'm a-goin'