At last his lips spread into a
dry, crippled smile.
"Joey told 'em to go to hell. And he rather helped the guy along the
route by kickin' him half-way down stairs. If he hadn't caught himself
against the railing half-way down, he'd 'a' been in the bad place
these last four years. I wish to state at this point, Davy, that for
the past four years I've made it my business to make that guy wish he
was there a hundred times over. It's mighty hard to do a lawyer, but
I've got that feller so's he sits up nights, looking like a ghost,
waitin' to see what's going to happen to him if he should accidentally
fall asleep. But, 'nough of that. After I got out of the pen I dropped
in to see Joey. He was just organizin' that road pantomime show of
his. He told me all about Mrs. Grand's proposal, and I was for cutting
the dame's throat, only he wouldn't hear to it. You been in Joey's
home in Tenth Street, haven't you? I mean the old one, just a little
ways off Broadway. Well, you remember _them_ stairs? Can you
imagine bein' kicked down them stairs? Gee whiz! How I'd like to ha'
been there! Well, you know all about Joey's pantomime fizzle.
Pages:
357
358
359
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381