Lady Lightfingers Read Online Free PDF

she fled? He remembered too, that the last time they’d met she’d called him by his name. Where would she have learned of it, except from the inscription on the watch?
    He picked his notebook up and opened it, gently turning over the pages. He stopped and gazed at a drawing. There she was, her sweet little face wistful, her cupped hand outstretched and her eyes full of dreams.
    â€˜Look, here she is,’ he said and James came to look over his shoulder.
    â€˜She recited a Shakespeare sonnet to the crowd that day. Her voice was clear and rang out with great feeling, but her actions were too dramatic for my taste. She collected very little in the way of money for her efforts. On the whole, the crowds were intent on a more colourful and exciting entertainment.’
    â€˜That’s the girl who bumped into me in the street. She managed to get a shilling out of me with some tale of woe about a sick mother. As soon as she got the coin she went running off as though the devil himself was after her.’
    â€˜Perhaps her mother is sick. A girl like that can’t enjoy having to live a life of poverty and be obliged to beg. You know what the next step will be for her.’
    James shrugged. ‘I suppose you’re going to make it your mission in life to save her. You should have taken up missionary work. Be careful, Uncle Thomas, she’s probably as cunning as a river rat.’
    â€˜So would you be if you’d had to fend for yourself from an early age. That’s enough now, James. I’m not the old fool you tend to think I am, and I still enjoy a challenge.’
    James grinned widely at him. ‘I think nothing of the sort. I think you are the most compassionate man I know.’
    â€˜Only within reason, my boy. Tell me, what would you make of a thief who steals goods then returns them to her victim?’
    James considered it for a moment, his eyes reflective. Wide blue eyes with dark lashes came into his mind. She’d been a pretty little thing despite the dirt on her face and the rags she wore. ‘I’d think that the girl saw the memorial to your daughter in the back of your watch, and her conscience was rattled.’
    â€˜Which indicates that she isn’t dishonest by nature, and has been brought up to be honest. And yes, I do believe she has a good mind, and because her needs in that area are not really satisfied she employs and enjoys using trickery. She put the watch where she did to trick me into thinking it’s where I left it, and it had been there all the time. What she forgot was, if it had been left there for all that time, the spring would have wound down and it would have stopped. She had kept it wound up while she had it, you see.’
    â€˜What if she’d left it there by mistake?’
    â€˜She would have snatched it up as soon as the key went in the latch.
    She could also have taken several things on the way out. The silver snuffbox, spoons, ornaments and coins. All this indicates to me is that she thieves or begs only to survive.’
    â€˜You have an odd sense of what’s honest and what’s not, Uncle.’
    â€˜Perhaps I’ll be able to prove it to you before you return to take up that legal partnership in Dorset. I’m going to find out more about this girl. She interests me.’
    James sighed.

Three
    Thomas didn’t see his light-fingered friend for two weeks. He thought she might be avoiding him, which as far as Thomas was concerned was a sure sign of her guilt in the matter of her uninvited intrusion into his house. Nevertheless, her lesson had been driven home and he no longer wore such a valuable timepiece when going about his day, but a rather ordinary metal watch that didn’t keep perfect time like his other one.
    In his satchel he carried a gift, with which to entice her.
    He was observing a sideshow of tumblers when he saw her again. It was a cold, still day. The sky was high, a sweep of thin cloud