Althea rather wished she’d had that bit of advice before she’d had her previous encounter with him. She was relatively certain he hadn’t been happy about her response to his question, so she doubted whatever had caused Jimmy to blanch had anything to do with her. Perhaps he owed the man money.

Mac placed the tankard on the counter. “Polly, why don’t you take Jimmy his brew?”

“Would be better if Althea did.”

She’d wanted to kiss Mac when he’d passed the task off to Polly, wanted to scowl at Polly for refusing, but knew it was unfair for the other barmaid to have to take on her chores. After picking up the tankard, she edged her way between the tables until she reached Jimmy’s. He and his mates were staring at the surface as though they’d never seen wood before and were striving to decipher how it had come to be. Without uttering a word, she set down the tankard.

“I’m sorry,” Jimmy blurted.

“I beg your pardon?”

With eyes big, wide, and fearful, he looked up at her. “I’m sorry. Shouldn’t ’ave done it. Won’t do it again.”

She tried not to let her surprise show. “I very much appreciate that and your apology.”

“You’ll tell Beast, right, the next time ’e comes in, right, you’ll tell ’im I said I was sorry, a’right. Don’t need me fingers broke.” His words tumbled out, one after another, no breath or pause between.

She suspected she had no success at all hiding her astonishment this time. He’d threatened to break the man’s fingers? His chums were still not looking at her, had hunched their shoulders in an attempt to make themselves smaller, possibly hoping to avoid her scrutiny. “Yes, I’ll let him know.”

“Jolly good.” Taking the tankard, he began gulping the contents.

She wasn’t certain she blamed him. Nor was she certain why the stranger had stood up for her, but couldn’t deny taking a great deal of pleasure in his efforts at being her champion. It had been far too long since anyone, other than her brothers, had taken a stand to defend her.

She made her way to the large gent’s table to retrieve his empty glass. When she reached it, she saw the sovereign resting there. Picking up the glass, she started to walk away.

“That’s for you.”

She glanced back at Rob, who was wiping down a nearby table. Usually, the tall, slender young man collected everything off the tables and gave them a thorough wiping down, but since the customer hadn’t been there long enough to make a mess, she’d thought to spare him the trouble. “I’m certain he meant it for you, for cleaning up after him.” A more than generous donation for the service.