There was a downside, of course. There always is. For wouldn’t you know it but what Jenny and Angela had developed a taste for the fine life, staying in that swanky townhouse. So they started wheedling Greyboar into buying it.
“It’ll give you so much more fashionable a place to live, instead of that bear’s den you’ve got in the Flankn,” insisted Jenny.
“You’ll get more clients,” argued Angela. “Especially the ladies, who are afraid to go into the Thieves’ Quarter.”
“And it’d be great for us, too!”
“Much better location for our dress shop.”
“Much higher class of clientele.”
Of course, the little monsters didn’t try to wheedle me, they know better. But I wasn’t worried. Greyboar didn’t have the sense about money that I did, but he wasn’t a fool either—his grip was tight more ways than one.
Until the Cat stepped in. I swear, the big gorilla was an absolute patsy in the hands of that woman. Didn’t have any of the masculine firmness that I had in my dealings with Jenny and Angela.
All it took was for the Cat to stare at him with those telescope blue eyes and sneer: “What a cheapskate.” Two seconds later, Greyboar’s ordering me to spend our hard-earned money to buy the house! I couldn’t believe it! Of course, I knew better than to argue with him when he was in one of his the-Cat-wants-it moods.
The whole thing turned out pretty good for Eddie, Lester and Frank, too. They’d been staying in the house, hiding out in the cellar. It wasn’t at all safe now for a dwarf in the streets of New Sfinctr. When they heard we were going to buy the house, they approached Greyboar and asked him if they could stay on—as hired hands, or something—cooks, maybe, or—or, whatever. Well, the truth is, the dwarves really didn’t have any of the skills of a house servant, and besides, Angela and Jenny wouldn’t hear of the idea. What were they, anyway? Snotty little rich girls, what didn’t know how to look after themselves? They weren’t against the idea of the dwarves staying, mind you. They thought it was a great idea, seeing as how Frank, Lester and Eddie were such sweet little men and all. But they thought it was ridiculous to actually hire them as something or other. Why not just let them stay? So that’s how it ended up.
I wasn’t too pleased with the idea, myself. Not that I had anything in particular against the little guys. Very nice dwarves, they were. But if you let dwarves move in with you, you’ll sooner than you know it have all the dwarf business with it.
“They’ll build a stop for the Underground Railroad,” I complained to Greyboar. “You know they will, as sure as the sunrise. Dig one right down through the cellar.”
Greyboar shrugged. “Sure, I know. So what? I never have liked the way dwarves get treated in this world, you know that. You should be against it, too—self-preservation, if no other reason.” I was quite offended at the evil grin that he gave me at that point. “Easy to mistake you for a dwarf, in the dark.”
Then he made that firm-type gesture with his great ugly hand which I hated—it meant: the question’s settled.
“Let ’em stay. And let ’em build their stop on the Railroad. Nothing else, maybe that’ll put me back in Gwendolyn’s good graces, just a bit. She’s been a topside organizer of the Railroad for years. Has strong feelings on the subject, strong feelings. So when she hears, maybe she’ll decide I’m not quite the complete worthless scum of the earth, after all.”
So the dwarves stayed, and, sure enough, it didn’t take them long to build a stop on the Railroad. Then, before you knew it—almost overnight, it seemed like—our cellar became the main stop for the Railroad in New Sfinctr. Dwarves sneaking in and out all times of the night. I was surprised at first, but after reflection it made sense. A lot of it was Angela and Jenny. Pretty soon the girls got so involved in Railroad work that they stopped even talking about opening their dress shop.