Clay had come to Annie Millikan now because of what she had told him about "Slim" Jim. This man was one of Durand's stand-bys. If there was any underground work to be done it was an odds-on chance that he would be in charge of it.
"I'm askin' you to stand by a poor girl that's in trouble," he said in answer to her question.
"You've soitainly got a nerve with you. I'll say you have. You want me to throw the hooks into Jim for a goil I never set me peepers on. I wisht I had your crust."
"You wouldn't let Durand spoil her life if you could stop it."
"Wouldn't I? Hmp! Soft-soap stuff. Well, what's my cue? Where do I come in on this rescue-the-be-eutiful heroine act?"
"I might 'a' seen him this afternoon an' I might not," she said cautiously, looking at him from under a broad hat-brim.
"I didn't see him after I got behind that 'How Many?' sign. If I seen him must 'a' been before two."
"Did he give you any hint of what was in the air?"
"Say, what's the lay-out? Are you framin' Jim for up the river?"
"Because she's your goil. Where do I come in at? What's there in it for me to go rappin' me friend?" demanded Annie sharply.
"She's not my girl," explained Clay. Then, with that sure instinct that sometimes guided him, he added, "The young lady I--I'm in love with has just become engaged to another man."
Miss Millikan looked at him, frankly incredulous. "For the love o' Mike, where's her eyes? Don't she know a real man when she sees one? I'll say she don't."
"I'm standin' by Kitty because she's shy of friends. Any man would do that, wouldn't he? I came to you for help because--oh, because I know you're white clear through."
A flush beat into Annie's cheeks. She went off swiftly at a tangent. "Wouldn't it give a fellow a jar? This guy Jim Collins slips it to me confidential that he's off the crooked stuff. Nothin' doin' a-tall in gorilla work. He kids me that he's quit goin' out on the spud and porch-climbin' don't look good to him no more. A four-room flat, a little wifie, an' the straight road for 'Slim' Jim. I fall for it, though I'd orta be hep to men. An' he dates me up to-night for the chauffeurs' ball."
"No; he sidesteps it this aft with a fairy tale about drivin' a rich old dame out to Yonkers. All the time he' was figurin' on pinchin' this goil for Jerry. He's a rotten crook."