Dodger of the Dials by James Benmore Read Free Book Online

a respectable harlot to demean herself for just two guineas? What sort of sad and desperate wretch would ever consent to such terms?’
    ‘I would,’ piped up the girl in the canary dress. She had been listening to our conversation with interest and, to be fair, two guineas was a decent sum of money for one hour’s work. The other prostitute had left with her swain and there was a chance that this one would be left standing if she didn’t act. ‘I have a room two streets away if you’d like to, handsome,’ she said as stepping past Lily and towards the old gent. He looked relieved to have at last encountered someone with a bit of business sense about her and took her arm as she led him off into the night. The evening’s performance had been begun and so the Haymarket was now much sparser and Lily and myself was left alone on the pavement.
    ‘And you are?’ she enquired. I removed my hat again and bowed deep.
    ‘Jack Dawkins, miss,’ I said after I had done so. ‘And, if that name sounds somehow familiar, I should also tell you of the monicker I sometimes go by. The Artful Dodger! ’
    ‘Never heard of you,’ she shrugged. ‘You in music halls?’
    ‘No, I am not,’ I replied as I replaced the hat. ‘But I do enjoy a certain celebrity in some localities if you ask the right people. But what is more important is that we are at last undisturbed and I am free to make you my offer.’
    ‘You’ve just talked me out of two guineas, Mr Dawkins,’ she said and threw a glance over her shoulder towards the old gentleman and her friend who was disappearing around the far corner. ‘So this offer of yours had better be good. Didn’t I just hear you speaking of dining and dancing, jewellery and the like?’
    ‘You did indeed and, should you be so lucky as to become my fancy woman, then I would rule none of that out. But – seeing how we’re just getting to know one another – how about we start with some supper and see how we get on? Nearby is a cosy little place I know what serves an eel pie and mash and I haven’t eaten all night. Why don’t you join me? They do a nice soup as well.’
    ‘Eels?’ Lily laughed in ridicule. ‘After all that and you just want to buy me a bowl of green for my favours. You’ve a fine nerve Jack Dawkins, I’ll say that for you.’
    ‘An oyster house then,’ I said and reached into my pocket. ‘And we can visit all the concert rooms and halls afterwards. But, in all truth, Lily, I don’t intend to pay for a single farthing of the evening’s fun.’
    ‘That right?’ she responded. ‘Well, if you’re think I’m going to pick up the expenses then you’ve come to the wrong tart. Listen, Mr Dawkins …’
    ‘Jack.’
    ‘Jack, then. You might be quite the sensation in your own vicinity but you need to understand something,’ she stepped close to me and spoke in a tone of warning, ‘I’m a Slade girl.’ I shrugged to show her that I did not know or care what that meant. ‘And one way or another,’ she continued, ‘you’re paying for a Slade girl.’
    ‘No, I am not, Lily,’ I said. Then I produced something what changed her countenance quick. It was the fat brown wallet what belonging to the old gentleman and it was as stuffed as a pigeon. ‘But somebody else will be. Now come along,’ I offered her my arm. ‘Let’s you and me go and have ourselves a very pleasant evening, shall we? And you won’t have to do a single thing you’re not inclined to.’
    Lily laughed as I handed her the wallet so she could count the contents. ‘You know what, Mr Dawkins?’ she said at last as she took my arm after all, ‘I think I am in the mood for some of those oysters after all’.

Chapter 3

A Drop of Courage
    Showing the criminal life to be a much harder way of life than it might first appear
    The early afternoon cry of a rag-and-bone man woke me some hours later on that day when I had returned from Whetstone and I rolled over in my bed to go another round with