“Not all gangsters are Italian,” I pointed out. “I’ve had to deal with a brutal gang on the Lower East Side and they were not at all Italian. Are you sure your husband doesn’t owe money, or hasn’t run foul of the criminal classes?”

She thought about this, then shook her head. “No, Harry’s not like that. The only times he’s borrowed money have been from friends and family. And he’s always good about repaying it. We don’t live beyond our means, Miss Murphy. We still stay at cheap boarding houses and travel third class, even though Harry’s making good money now. Of course he sends a big chunk home to support his mother, like he promised his father he would. He plans to buy her a house pretty soon.”

I didn’t know whether gang members demanded protection money from stage performers. Since these performers were not confined to one area but were constantly on the move, I thought this was unlikely.

“So not a gang member then. What did this man look like?”

“Nothing special. The type of guy you’d pass in the street and not look at twice.”

“Well dressed?”

She frowned as if trying to remember. “Respectable. Like a clerk maybe. Wore a derby. Nothing flashy.”

“So probably not a gang member nor an entertainer,” I said.

She thought about this. “Probably not.”

“Did he actually say anything that you could possibly think was a death threat?”

She thought again, then shook her head. “I can’t say that he did.”

“Then maybe you’re reading more into this than you need to. Maybe your nerves are still upset from what happened the other night after all the travel you’ve been doing recently and the voyage home from Germany.”

“No, I don’t think so,” she said. “Oh, sure, seeing that poor girl all sliced open like that did upset my nerves. I mean who wouldn’t be upset when they saw something like that? It’s enough to turn the strongest stomach. But the voyage home was as smooth as anything and Harry was in good spirits, and all.”

“And what about when you were on the Continent? Did you get any feeling of danger over there?”