Cairo moved suddenly towards the door, saying: “I’m going too, if Mr. Spade will be kind enough to give me my hat and coat.”
Spade asked: “What’s the hurry?”
Dundy said angrily: “It was all in fun, but just the same you’re afraid to be left here with them.”
“Not at all,” the Levantine replied, fidgeting, looking at neither of them, “but it’s quite late and—and I’m going. I’ll go out with you if you don’t mind.”
Dundy put his lips together firmly and said nothing. A light was glinting in his green eyes.
Spade went to the closet in the passageway and fetched Cairo’s hat and coat. Spade’s face was blank. His voice held the same blankness when he stepped back from helping the Levantine into his coat and said to Tom: “Tell him to leave the gun.”
Dundy took Cairo’s pistol from his overcoat-pocket and put it on the table. He went out first, with Cairo at his heels. Tom halted in front of Spade, muttering, “I hope to God you know what you’re doing,” got no response, sighed, and followed the others out. Spade went after them as far as the bend in the passageway, where he stood until Tom had closed the corridor door.