You just stroll in casually and I'll call you
over. By the by," he added, lowering his voice, "did you see those two
fellows I was with?"
"I saw them!" I confessed. "They were just a trifle noticeable."
Mr. Parker came a little nearer to me. He accentuated his words by beating
on the palm of his left hand with two fingers of his right.
"Absolutely, my dear Walmsley, two of the most unmitigated and desperate
ruffians on either continent!"
"They looked it," I agreed heartily.
"Their record," Mr. Parker continued--"their police record, I mean--is one
of the most wonderful things ever put on paper. The marvelous thing is
how, even for a few minutes, they should be out of prison! Did you notice
the one with the cast in his eye?"
"I did," I admitted.
"They used to call him Angel Jake," Mr. Parker proceeded confidentially.
"He was sentenced to death once for shooting a policeman, but there was
some technicality--he was tried in the wrong court--so he got off."
"A very interesting acquaintance," I remarked with utterly wasted sarcasm.
"They're fairly up to their necks in trouble, both of them, on the other
side," Mr. Parker declared with relish; "and they're kind o' looking for
it here.
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