Dodger of the Dials Read Free Page B

it on. ‘As if he would need spies, you idiot man. He couldn’t care two tits for what I get up to!’
    I heard her moving over to the little table where I had snatched the necklace from and I readied myself for an outcry once she saw that the necklace was gone. A drawer was pulled, a case was heard opening but no shriek followed.
    ‘You wanted to stop, Humphrey, that’s what this is about,’ she said instead as if something was in her mouth. ‘And I hadn’t given you permission yet.’ Then I saw the faint light of the candle move through the drapes and realised that she was lighting a cigar for herself. ‘You’re a waste of blood and organs.’
    With that the heavy footsteps of this Humphrey was heard thundering down the corridor and towards this boudoir. ‘You insolent bitch,’ he declared on entrance. ‘You poisonous jade!Bentley is my oldest friend, God rot you, and he doesn’t know I ’ m here.’ The woman just laughed back at him.
    ‘He knows about all of you,’ she breathed out after what must have been her first drag. The man’s voice lowered when he spoke next.
    ‘If that is another of your famous jokes, madam,’ he said with a hateful seethe, ‘then know that I do not take it in good humour.’
    While all this was under discussion I had been busy working out the details of my escape. The sash of the window could be opened with ease and I could see that it would be possible for me to scale down the building to the back garden using the water pipe. All that mattered was that I could get outside before drawing attention to myself. Once I had got hold of the pipe I was confident that I could move faster than they could and be down and off with the necklace before they had even left the room.
    ‘Oh, you think that I’ve been living as a nun until now, do you?’ the woman went on taunting, while I tried to lift the sash. The night was warm and windless so I was not concerned about letting in air and this fiery spat was covering whatever creaks I made. ‘While my brute husband sleeps with every whore in Christendom?’ There was now almost enough space for me to slip underneath the window and get onto the ledge outside. A couple more inches and I would have my liberty.
    ‘Why your husband should feel the need to sleep with a single whore, madam,’ boomed Humphrey loud enough for me to risk a greater shove of the window, ‘is a great mystery! For he has in his marital bed the biggest harlot of them all!’
    Just then the sound of a struggle broke out and the woman began to scream. It seems he had got hold of her now and was manhandling her towards the bed. I could hear her hit him with something and she told him to leave as the light of the cigar wassnuffed out. He laughed as something fell over and said that he was done taking orders from her and that it was his turn to receive satisfaction. The sound of this violent outburst was such that I could lift the window to as far as it would go and there was now nothing to obstruct my departure. But something powerful held me there.
    It was the thought of Nancy. Many a night, since I had returned from my incarceration in Australia and learnt of her terrible murder, I had suffered dark dreams thinking about what that bastard Sikes had done to her. I had often thought that – had I been there to prevent it – I would have saved her from his butchery in a most dashing fashion. But it’s easy to flatter yourself with thoughts like that if history never repeats itself.
    ‘You’re hurting me!’ the woman cried again in serious distress. The spite in her voice was gone now and I just heard the fear. There was a loud smack and she groaned as her attacker told her he would ruin her looks if she made one more noise. She carried on pleading for help, though, and I wondered who she thought might hear her. She herself had sent the servants away and the only person in this village what might have a chance of coming to her aid was the constable what Scratcher