Dodger of the Dials Read Online Free PDF

Street towards the Dials. The place stank of last night’s red wine and of this morning’s washed linen and the only souls what was lining the streets for us at this hour was cats and vagrants. ‘They should be singing us songs from the windows,’ I declared.
    The cart drew up outside the pub on the corner of Monmouth and Mercer which is where Tom and I both alighted. We then made arrangements to meet up later in the afternoon as I had my appointment with Percival at five and had no intention of arriving alone. So we tipped hats, bade each other good morning and parted company. Georgie led the cart away up the street towards Covent Garden, Tom took off down St Martin’s Lane where she resided with her friend and I headed back towards my new crib in Soho.
    I kept one hand in my coat pocket where the necklace was as I crossed through the dangerous maze of alleys and courtyards and smiled at what excitement it was about to stir up when I got home.Once I reached the end of Crooked Arm Way I stepped into a small courtyard known to locals as Five Fingers Court and looked up to the window of my new lodgings. I noticed the curtains was still drawn as I reached for my keys.
    I was vexed to still be behaving like a thief as I crossed the threshold of my own home but I was keen to avoid my landlady who occupied the lodgings below ours. However, as soon as I had shut the front door after me and before I had grabbed hold of the bannister, I heard her thick Irish accent call out from her kitchen.
    ‘Is that a burglar I can hear?’ she said and before I had made it halfway up the staircase towards my own rooms she was out into the hallway and stood at the bottom.
    ‘Not at all, Mrs Grogan,’ I said as I took off my hat and turned to face her. She was a heavy-set, formidable bruiser with a moustache as thick as that of her late husband. ‘It’s just Mr Dawkins Esquire back from working the docks.’ She gave a small snort to let me know she had no use for my flam.
    ‘Ah, Mr Dawkins? I was not to know. When I hear a pair of male footsteps treading up that staircase, well … I suppose it could be just about anyone.’
    I let my smile drop to show her I was in no mood for her goadings.
    ‘I’m keen to get to sleep now, Mrs G,’ I said cold and turned away from her. ‘I’ve been hard at it.’ But she was not to be shaken off.
    ‘Do you have my rent then, Mr Dawkins? Did you earn it last night down these docks of yours?’
    ‘I did as a matter of fact,’ I replied with a nod. ‘Don’t get paid ’til later though. You’ll get your money, Mrs Grogan, don’t fret on it.’
    ‘All four weeks’ worth?’ she continued as I made it to the door of my apartment. ‘ Four weeks! ’ I unlocked this other door andturned back to her before entering. ‘See that I have everything by tomorrow evening,’ she warned me. ‘Or my sons are going to come knocking to turf out the pair of you. A thief and a whore I can suffer but I won’t keep wastrels.’
    I slammed the door shut between us and sighed at how much more disrespect the multitude of London could sling at me in one morning. I hung my hat from a peg on the papered wall and then took off the coat which I folded over my arm. As I did so I heard another, fairer voice calling out my name from within. She sounded surprised to hear me back so early.
    ‘Lily?’ I said before I opened the door to our bedroom. ‘You alone?’
    I’m not sure why I asked that, perhaps it was the landlady’s snide insinuations. But as I entered the bedroom Lily was sat up and looking most affronted. She was in her nightdress with her hair dishevelled from sleep.
    ‘Course I’m alone, you cheeky bugger,’ she tutted. ‘What a thing to ask.’ I smiled and threw the coat onto a small upholstered chair what we kept at the foot of the iron bedstead. Then I went over to give her a kiss.
    ‘Only teasing,’ I said at last after letting her go. ‘Here, guess what I found?’ I started taking off my