Lady Rogue Read Free

do anything we want.  It will be a frolicksome life, you'll see."
    They spent the day exploring the city, from the docks to the gateway, from the highest point atop London Bridge to that point on the quay where the bank sloped down.  For a time they were content, until their stomachs began to rumble with hunger.  They hadn’t so much as a farthing to spend for food.  Neither Dawn nor Robbie had ever gone hungry.  Food was something they had always taken for granted.  Even in prison they had been fed, though they had grumbled about the fare.  Now they were faced with sudden reality.  The streets were filled with vendors and tradesmen, but not a one was willing to part with his wares for free.
    "Go on with ye.  Don't be begging here!"  they scolded.
    "Tattered little sparrows, I dare say.  Aye, that ye be.  But I have no meat pastries to spare ," insisted a frowning pieman.
    "Ye be overbold.  Get out of here before I call the night watchman, " threatened another.
    Dawn and Robbie retreated to Billingsgate, clinging to the shadows, hoping for a more charitable attitude among the fishermen and cod-sellers.  But their dirty clothing brought scorn, not sympathy.  The people of London had hardened their hearts against those who were in need.  Perhaps because there were so many, Dawn reflected.  They were not the only children wandering the streets in search of food.
    "They don't care any more about us than they do the rats!"  Robbie snarled, breathing in the scent of fish, potent yet strangely a ppetizing.
    "They do!  Someone will give us food, you'll see.  They won't let us starve, Robbie."  Remembering her manners, Dawn approached a fishwife, asking politely for something to eat.  An upraised broom and a barrage of swear words was the response.  That night, frightened and alone, they slept in a doorway, huddled together, sharing the misery of their aching stomachs.  Both swore it was the last time they would ever go hungry.
    Prowling about for nails, old metals, twine, paper or broken glass to sell to the rag and bone man for a few pennies, Robbie and Dawn fared better the next few days.  When they could not find anything to sell , they stole their dinner.  Desperation had its own lessons to teach.
    Life might have continued in the same pattern had not fate taken a hand . Going about their daily routine, scrounging about for odds and ends to sell to the ragman, they suddenly came face to face with a band of young ruffians. Urchins her mother had once called them.  Now those rowdy and ragged beings came after the Dawn and Robbie, assaulting them with obscenities as well as fists.  Coming her brother’s aid, Dawn fought furiously, until one eye swelled shut and her lip split open. In the end they were defeated, pushed and shoved along the cobbled street, barely managing to avoid the open gutters of filth at their feet  and slop from pails being emptied from the windows above.  They soon learned that they had unknowingly encroached on the territory of one of  London’s boldest and most powerful thieves.  Now they were dragged trembling into his presence.
    Black John Dunn greeted the two trespassers with a scowl .  Dawn looked at the scarred, swarthy, black-bearded face with awe, certain she had come face to face with the very devil.  "BiGod!"  he thundered,  "Wot 'ave we 'ere?"
    "Caught 'em pilfering, we did, John.  Staking 'emselves in our territory.  Brought 'em roight away to yer, we did."  The boy who spoke flashed Dawn a wide-gapped grin, obviously please d with himself.
    "We weren't pilfering , merely gathering a few discarded things so that we could make our way."  Holding her head up, trying to mask her fear, Dawn stepped forward.  "Please, Sir, we didn't mean any harm.  It's just that we have nowhere to go.  Selling things to the rag and bone man seemed to be the only way."
    "Di d it now?"  Black John Dunn crossed his thick arms across his massive chest.  Thick brows pulled