Out with the question."
"Serve every one who desires it with drinks," Sir Timothy
directed the barman. "My question is easily answered. Is this
the place which a man whom I understand they call Billy the
Tanner frequents?"
The question appeared to produce an almost uncomfortable
sensation. The enthusiasm for the free drinks, however, was only
slightly damped, and a small forest of grimy hands was extended
across the counter.
"Don't you ask no questions about 'im, guvnor," Sir Timothy's
immediate companion advised earnestly. "He'd kill you as soon as
look at you. When Billy the Tanner's in a quarrelsome mood, I've
see 'im empty this place and the whole street, quicker than if a
mad dog was loose. 'E's a fair and 'oly terror, 'e is. 'E about
killed 'is wife, three nights ago, but there ain't a living soul
as 'd dare to stand in the witness-box about it."
"Why don't the police take a hand in the matter if the man is
such a nuisance?" Sir Timothy asked.
His new acquaintance, gripping a thick tumbler of spirits and
water with a hand deeply encrusted with the stains of his trade,
scoffed.
"Police! Why, 'e'd take on any three of the police round these
parts!" he declared. "Police! You tell one on 'em that Billy
the Tanner's on the rampage, and you'll see 'em 'op it.
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