‘Ah,’ said Henry. ‘That was what was so fortuitous about Collis’s arrival. I’ve forgotten the end of the story. I know it was something to do with the dog saying, “You’d walk like this too, if you had four legs,” but that’s all I can remember.’

‘The man’s incorrigible,’ complained Lewis Dunlop. ‘He can never, ever, recall how his stories wind up. It’s too damned frustrating for words.’

‘Well, it’s interesting that you should mention frustrating,’ said Henry, ‘because an acquaintance of mine mentioned today that a new whorehouse has opened its doors on Leonard Street, and apparently it puts on a very piquant exhibition. I thought after Delmonico’s we might wander that way, and see what we can see.’

‘That sounds fair,’ agreed Lewis. ‘By the way, Collis, how did you get on with your latest Gorgon last night? There was a red-headed horror, and no mistake!’

Jack laughed. ‘He’s quite right, Coll. You do have the most appalling taste in ladies, when you’re tiddly. Was she good, being so ugly, or were you too drunk to mind?’

‘She was good-natured, in her way,’ Collis told them, with unexpected seriousness. ‘I don’t suppose she ever had the chance in her life to do anything grand, or even anything worthwhile. But she was a thoughtful girl, and I believe that if anyone said that of me, I wouldn’t half object.’

Henry lifted one of his shaggy light-brown eyebrows. ‘That sounds like an epitaph, my dear boy. You really shouldn’t be so sad about a lady of the streets, particularly a lady of the streets who could have gone twenty rounds with the best middleweight in the nation, and won.’

Lewis and Jack laughed, and Jack slapped Collis on the back. Collis sipped a little more beer and tried to look amused.

Henry noticed his expression. ‘There’s definitely something wrong,’ he said. ‘You’re not yourself.’

‘He’s all right,’ said Lewis. ‘If this whorehouse show is anything you say it is, and if Delmonico’s is putting on its peppered steak, then we’ll soon have him back to normal.’

‘No, no,’ remarked Henry. ‘It’s more than that. I detect a thoughtfulness, a silent introspection. What’s amiss, Collis? I know it’s something.’

Collis shrugged. ‘There was an accident this morning. I took the girl to the Monument, you see, because it was nearest, and because they know me there; but in the morning, when I woke up, there were two pugilists at the door, as well as the manager from the Madison Saloon.’

‘Oh my God,’ said Jack. ‘I suppose he wanted paying for the glasses we broke.’

Collis nodded. ‘I tried to do my usual, and duck out of the window, but this silly girl didn’t manage it, and slipped. She fell three floors.’

‘Was she killed?’ asked Lewis, with a frown.