On Mother Brown's Doorstep Read Online Free PDF Page B

goin’ the wrong way.’
    ‘No, no,’ he said, stopping, ‘I’m going to my lodgings, I have things to do.’
    ‘Yes, but you’re still pointin’ the wrong way,’ said Freddy.
    Mr Ponsonby blinked again.
    ‘Dear me, so I am, so I am,’ he said.
    ‘It’s back there,’ said Sally, ‘in Mrs Mason’s ’ouse.’
    ‘Thank you, thank you, how kind. My, you are a pretty girl. Have you had a peppermint drop?’
    ‘Yes, thanks,’ said Sally.
    ‘One can’t be too careful.’ Mr Ponsonby regarded brother and sister cautiously. ‘One is never sure who has had one and who hasn’t. Dear me, what a day, good afternoon.’ And off he went to his lodgings, the point of his umbrella clicking on the pavement. He stopped to inspect a chalked hopscotch design. ‘Bless my soul, what’s that doing there? Never mind, never mind.’ He hastened on.
    ‘Ain’t ’e funny?’ said Freddy.
    ‘You didn’t get a peppermint drop,’ said Sally, as they turned into Browning Street.
    ‘Nor I didn’t,’ said Freddy. ‘I’ll take two next time ’e offers, ’e won’t mind.’
    ‘Bet he won’t even notice,’ said Sally. ‘Don’t he talk posh, though? Mum says ’e’s prob’bly come down in the world.’
    ‘Yes, ’e prob’bly ’ad a wife that took to drink an’ drove ’im to ruin,’ said Freddy. ‘Still, ’e don’t go around cryin’ about it.’
    ‘No, but he blows ’is nose sometimes,’ said Sally.
    ‘What’s that got to do with it?’
    ‘Well, lots of people blow their noses to ’ide they’re cryin’,’ said Sally.
    ‘Susie blew her nose a little bit when our William came ’ome,’ said Freddy.
    ‘There you are, then,’ said Sally. She parted from him at Cotham Street, where her school friend lived. Freddy stopped for a moment to watch her. He grinned. She was walking as perky as anything in her short school gymslip. Showing off, just because her legs were getting longer. But he couldn’t help grinning, he was fond of Sally, the cheeky one of the family.
    He called after her in the fashion of a street urchin.
    ‘Oi, darling, ’ow’s yer farver’s tadpoles?’
    Sally turned, saw him grinning, put a thumb to her nose and then went on. A man coming the other way took notice of her. Tall and muscular, his eyes were dark and hollow beneath the peak of his flat cap, as if he didn’t sleep very well, and his black serge overcoat was unbuttoned, his watch chain showing. Sally bridled because he was staring at her all the time during his approach. She didn’t like his eyes one little bit, nor their fixed stare. And he was coming straight at her, as if he was going to knock her down and walk over her. Sally had to dodge aside, and as he passed her his body seemed to bruise the very air.
    ‘’Ere, d’you mind?’ she said with spirit, but he just kept going, nor did he look back. Ugh, I don’t like his kind, thought Sally, I like the ones that Susie likes. Sammy Adams, and his brothers, Boots and Tommy. Why wasn’t there another brother, a younger one? One for her?
    She laughed to herself then and went on to her friend’s house.
    Freddy, on his way to Ernie Flint’s home in Rodney Place, approached a factory. Well, it had been a factory once, but had caught fire some years ago. It had all caved in except for a section at one end that used to house offices and storerooms. A high wooden fence had been erected around the devastated property, but kids could squeeze in because the double wooden gates had been busted open one time, and the repair job had been makeshift. When kids did get in, they played around over piles of bricks and rubble. They couldn’t, however, get into the section still standing. The door was padlocked and all windows heavily boarded up.
    Passing the sagging gates, Freddy was brought to a stop by a girl’s voice.
    ‘’Ere, you boy, come ’ere.’
    He went back to the gates and saw a face visible through the gap.
    ‘What’s up?’ he asked.
    ‘I’ve lost Tabby,’