A Matter of Magic Read Online Free PDF

leaned forward eagerly. “And?”
    “It looked like that’s where the cove kept his magics. There were a whole bunch of little paper lanterns, and a couple of them little wooden boxes, and a stack of silk—”
    “Yes, yes, boy, but the bowl!”
    “Bowl?” Kim said, feigning innocence.
    “The silver bowl I described to you! Did you find it?”
    “I didn’t see nothin’ like that in Mairelon’s wagon,” Kim said with perfect truth.
    “What!” The toff’s voice was loud enough to make heads turn all along the table. He controlled himself with effort, and when the other customers had turned away, he glared at Kim. “You said you’d do as I asked!”
    “And so I have,” Kim retorted, unperturbed. “Ain’t nobody could of found somethin’ that ain’t never been there.”
    “Not there?” The man sounded stupefied.
    “Use your head, cully,” Kim advised. “If this Mairelon swell had something like that, I would of seen it, wouldn’t I? And I ain’t. So it ain’t there.”
    “You’re certain?”
    Kim nodded.
    The toff glared as though it were her fault. “Not there,” he muttered. “All this time, wasted on the wrong man. Amelia will never let me hear the end of it. Merrill could be anywhere in England by now, anywhere!”
    “That ain’t my lookout,” Kim pointed out. “You want to hear what else he had, or not?”
    “And you,” the toff went on in a venomous whisper, “you knew. That’s why you made me give you your money in advance, isn’t it? You little cheat!”
    On the last word, he lunged across the table. The sudden movement took Kim completely by surprise. He would have had his hands at her throat if a grimy, disreputable-looking man had not half lurched, half fallen against the toff’s back at that moment.
    The unexpected shove knocked the toff heavily into the edge of the table; Kim heard his grunt of pain plainly. She stood and backed away a little, watching with interest. She recognized the grimy man now, he had come into the public house just before the toff’s arrival.
    The grimy man was the first to recover. “Sh-shorry, very shorry,” he said. “The floor jusht, jusht shook me over, thash all.” He waved a hand to demonstrate, and lost his balance again.
    “Get away from me, you idiot!” the toff snarled.
    “Right. Very shorry.” The drunk made ineffectual apologetic motions in the toff’s direction. Since he was still draped halfway over the toff’s shoulder, this succeeded only in knocking over the almost untouched mug of beer in front of them. A wave of brown foam surged across the table, picking up dirt and grease as it went.
    The toff made a valiant effort to spring back out of the way, but with the drunk still leaning helpfully across his shoulder, he didn’t have a chance. The pool of cool, dirty beer swished into his lap, thoroughly drenching his previously immaculate attire. The taproom exploded in laughter.
    The drunk began a tearful apology, which was more a lament for the wasted beer than anything else. Cursing, the toff shoved him aside. He began wiping vainly at his clothes with a pocket handkerchief while the publican escorted the drunk firmly to the door. Kim judged it a good moment for her own departure and slipped quietly out in the drunk’s wake. Her last sight was of the toff, gingerly picking his dripping top hat out of the pool of beer.
    Still chuckling, Kim paused in the lane outside. It was now fully dark,and a yellow fog was rising. Not the best time for running about the London streets, even for as ragged a waif as Kim looked. Still, she hadn’t much choice. She swallowed hard, thinking of the coins in her pockets. If she lost them, she’d have nothing to fall back on if her arrangement with Mairelon fell apart. She started off, hugging the edge of the lane.
    As she passed the corner of the Dog and Bull, a pair of dirty, beer-scented hands grabbed her. One clamped itself over her mouth, the other pinned her arms. Kim threw herself