Dodger of the Dials Read Free

and we crept up it to the main house. In the long hallway of the ground floor we listened out for any noises what would tell us where the occupants was but heard nothing. The mahogany walls was hung with medieval armour and paintings of long-dead aristocratic men and we waited a beat to see if anyone would emerge to challenge us. Then we heard a distant male groan coming from somewhere above and this meant that Tom – who was now holding the sack – could begin filling it with swag downstairs without interruption. Tom opened one door what led to a room full of exciting ornaments and vanished straight into it. Meanwhile it was my part to venture upstairs and snatch back the Lady.
    The Lady of Stars was our client’s special request and it was all he was really interested in. Anything else what Tom and I might collect from this crack was ours to keep but we was being paid a very generous fee to steal this particular item so I made it my main priority as we would not leave without it. I did not want this Percival person thinking he had hired an amateur.
    The broad wooden staircase looked like it was going to be a creaker but it had a thick centre carpet running all the way up and so I ascended as soft as a dormouse. The manor house was large enough for raised voices to carry but I could not be sure behind which door the two occupants could be found. This was the sort of property what would never be unoccupied but tonight at least we was not the only ones who was not supposed to be here.
    I knew from Percival where the lady’s bedroom was and so I now headed in that direction. I had my persuader gripped tight and was ready for any trouble and I crouched down behind the top banister and listened hard. I then heard some light shuffling coming from down the far end of the landing. It seemed that perhaps the couple was just where I did not want them to be – inside the boudoir – and this could prove a problem. I moved with stealth down towards the noise which, as I grew closer, became the unmistakable sound of love-making. Perfect, I thought, as I tried to hear behind which of the four doors they was engaged. Even if they was in the wrong room there was a chance they would be too distracted by each other to detect my movements.
    As I crawled further down the passage I saw that the closest door on the left was ajar and that bright candlelight could be seen flickering through the crack. I inched up to it to see what was happening within and saw a small library room which had a long fainting settee with its back to me. I could see no one at first but I could hear the woman. Somewhere in that room the mistress of Whetstone was having herself a wonderful time and I envied whoever was in there treating her to it. I had to shift my view before I could tell where the noise was coming from but soon spied a silken nightdress lying beside the settee and one bare female foot dangling over the end and twitching in excitement. I then saw her hand lying over the top of the settee and wondered where, giventhe small size of the furniture, the man was. I could not proceed on my way until his whereabouts was accounted for so I had to risk peeking my head even further inside until I spotted him, still fully dressed and on his knees applying himself for her pleasure alone. I withdrew my head from inside that room and left them both to it.
    So my path towards her bedroom was now clear and I grew confident that, if I continued in perfect silence, their night of stolen passion would be undisturbed by my own thieving antics. I crossed over to the golden door handle of her private chamber and it opened onto the fitted carpet with no more noise than a hush. I stepped inside and was gratified to see some already lit candles about so I could begin my search without having to draw the curtains first. The perfumed room was as impressive as all the others I had passed but it was the only one in the manor what felt feminine, with its soft colours and vases