Interest lit her eyes. "Gold, was it?"

I knew then that the stick wasn't here. This girl would have sold it the moment she'd found it, and no wonder. The disappointment on her face when she shook her head was genuine. "Never saw it."

"He did not have it with him when he visited yesterday?"

"Naw. Mind you, 'e weren't 'ere long, and it were late."

"Ah, well. I apologize for disturbing you."

I took in the room before I went. The chimney smoked, the children sat sullenly, and Nellie looked as though she hadn't had a good meal in a fortnight. I fished inside my pocket and took out what few shillings I had to spare.

"Here." I pressed them to her hand. "For your trouble."

I turned to go. Behind me, she chuckled. "Yer a soft touch, ye are, sir."

From the other side of the door came the sound of drunken voices and the tramping of heavy feet. Nellie gasped. "Me 'usband!"

"You say nothing," I said. The situation was awkward, but not insurmountable. "I will speak to him."

The door banged open, and a man who must have weighed twenty stone filled the doorway. He was red faced, greasy haired, and cup-shot. Two men almost as large as he was crowded in behind him.

"Who the devil-"

Before her husband could say one word more, Nellie flew at me, screeching. "'e's a peach! Come about the money. Run for it!"

"Oh 'is 'e?" Nellie's husband reached for me.

I knew that Nellie acted out of self-preservation. For her husband to find her alone with an unknown gentleman only invited him to knock her about. I suspected he commonly did so, regardless. But as the large man and his equally large friends pounced on me, I could not feel much understanding.

Years battling the Corsican Monster in Spain and Portugal, and before that, service in India, had honed my skills, but I lagged against three huge men, and my ruined leg hindered me. They hauled me down the stairs, me fighting all the way, and tossed me into the street.