Evans, I think, was unconscious of my presence. He gave Sheener a name;
his name. Also, he told him the name of his lawyer, in one of the
Midland cities of England, and added certain instructions....
When he had drifted into uneasy sleep Sheener came out into the hall to
see me off. I asked him what he meant to do.
"What am I going to do?" he repeated. "I'm going to write to this guy's
lawyer. Let them send for him. This ain't no place for him."
"You'll have your trouble for your pains," I told him. "The old soak is
a plain liar; that's all."
Sheener laughed at me. "That's all right, bo," he told me. "I know. This
guy's the real cheese. You'll see."
I asked him to let me know if he heard anything, and he said he would.
But within a day or two I forgot the matter, and would hardly have
remembered it if Sheener had not telephoned me a month later.
"Say, you're a wise guy, ain't you?" he derided when I answered the
phone. I admitted it. "I got a letter from that lawyer in England," he
told me. "This Evans is the stuff, just like I said. His wife run away
with another man, and he went to the devil fifteen years ago. They've
been looking for him ever since his son grew up."
"Son?" I asked.
"Son. Sure! Raising wheat out in Canada somewhere. They give me his
address. He's made a pile. I'm going to write to him."
"What does Bum say?"
"Him? I ain't told him. I won't till I'm sure the kid's coming after
him." He said again that I was a wise guy; and I apologized for my
wisdom and asked for a share in what was to come. He promised to keep me
posted.
Ten days later he telephoned me while I was at supper to ask if I could
come to his room. I said: "What's up?"
"The old guy's boy is coming after him," Sheener said. "He's got the
shakes waiting. I want you to come and help me take care of him."
"When's the boy coming?"
"Gets in at midnight to-night," said Sheener.
I promised to make haste; and half an hour later I joined them in
Sheener's room. Sheener let me in. Evans himself sat in something like a
stupor, on a chair by the bed. He was dressed in a cheap suit of
ready-made clothes, to which he lent a certain dignity. His cheeks were
shaven clean, his mustache was trimmed, his thin hair was plastered down
on his bony skull. The man stared straight before him, trembling and
quivering. He did not look toward me when I came in; and Sheener and I
sat down by the table and talked together in undertones.
"The boy's really coming?" I asked.