Dodger of the Dials Read Online Free PDF Page B

work clothes and sat on the edge of the bed. ‘It was just lying there in the street as I passed by minding my own business. I have a feeling you might be interested.’
    I heard her jump up over from behind in quick anticipation. I had, in truth, told her all about where I was going and for what purpose on the night before and described the Lady of Stars to her in as much detail as Percival had to me.
    ‘Did you get it?’ she asked as she placed her hands on my shoulders. ‘Is it here?’ I gave a small nod towards the coat as I pulled at my shirt buttons.
    ‘Go and take a peek if you don’t believe me.’ She got up from the bed and darted over to the chair. ‘Not that pocket,’ I said as I removed my trousers. ‘The other.’
    I flung my clothes onto the rug as Lily found the necklace and I then crossed over to open the curtains. She held it up to the morning light and let it dangle between her two hands as she whistled while surveying it. The Lady of Stars seemed even more magical in this humble abode than it had set amid the grandeur of Whetstone Manor.
    ‘We can’t keep it,’ I reminded her. ‘It’s just for now.’
    ‘Oh, that right, is it?’ she arched an eyebrow. ‘You mean you won’t let me wear it out to show the neighbours? I was hoping to parade it around the rookeries looking like Marie Antoinette in the hope that someone might stab me to death over it.’
    ‘Turn around,’ I said not wishing to encourage any more sarcastic remarks and I inspected how the necklace clasped together. ‘Pull your hair up.’ She did so and I found the jewellery easier to place around her neck than I had expected it would be. ‘There,’ I said and kissed her on the nape before reaching for her hand mirror. She took it from me as her hair fell back down onto her shoulders and regarded herself. ‘What a beauty,’ I said as I watched her. Her manner altered as she looked at her reflection and when she next spoke all the playfulness had gone.
    ‘I’ll keep it on this morning though, Jack,’ she said. ‘Please. Until you go out again.’
    I had no intention of refusing her. We kissed again and I said of course as long as it was all she would wear. Soon we was both back on the mattress and as naked as babes save for the necklace still hung around her neck. She stretched her limbs out and began to just enjoy herself as the morning sun rays drifted slow across theroom. We stayed like that for some time and she let me love her in the manner in which I had seen the rich people love.
    *
    I had first spied Lily Lennox about one year prior to this and from the very first glimpse I could tell that she was going to be the real knock-me-down. She was stood outside the Theatre Royal with two other excellent examples of ill-repute in a very fetching green dress while I was strolling along the opposite pavement with my new silver-tipped cane and heading towards Piccadilly. It had become a habit of mine around that period for my feet to move me towards the brilliant splendour of the Haymarket where all the other fashionable nightbirds of the city would flock. It was a glorious place for a pickpocket to explore as I was forever surrounded by the sons of nobility all promenading with their ladies and acting so careless. I was dressed in my flashest attire in order to blend in with the other dandies and I was at last starting to feel my old buzz coming back. The wounds from Ruby Solomon’s bewildering rejection of me had just about begun to heal and I was now in the market for a new fancy woman. I did not want one of those sad, gin-soaked rookery girls what all the other thieves attached themselves to though. No, I wanted a girl worth impressing, someone to steal for who would know the difference between me and every other fellow. And there, stood proud between the two columns of the theatre, was someone who looked like she would be ideal for the role.
    She was displaying herself in full view of the passing traffic, mistress