"She's been giddy, but at least she's always been chaperoned,
except with him. He's the one all right; there's no doubt about
it. He's the beginning of the end."
"His own end, yes," assented Jimmy half to himself. "Now, see
here, old man," he argued, "I'd give that poor devil a chance to
explain."
"Explain!" shouted Alfred so sharply that Jimmy quickly
retreated. "I wouldn't believe him now if he were one of the
Twelve Apostles."
"That's tough," murmured Jimmy as he saw the last avenue of
honourable escape closed to him.
"Tough!" roared Alfred, thinking of himself. "Hah."
"On the Apostles, I mean," explained Jimmy nervously.
Again Alfred paced up and down the room, and again Jimmy tried to
think of some way to escape from his present difficulty. It was
quite apparent that his only hope lay not in his own candor, but
in Alfred's absence. "How long do you expect to be away?" he
asked.
"Only until I hear from Henri," said Alfred.
"Henri?" repeated Jimmy and again a gleam of hope shone on his
dull features. He had heard that waiters were often to be
bribed. "Nice fellow, Henri," he ventured cautiously. "Gets a
large salary, no doubt?"
"Does he!" exclaimed Alfred, with a certain pride of
proprietorship. "No tips could touch Henri, no indeed. He's not
that sort of a person."
Again the hope faded from Jimmy's round face.
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