The Deadly Fire Read Free

manner. ‘I had a bit of trouble today – with Mary Robinson.’
    â€˜Those leaflets that Mr Elmore got printed!’ Sarah had a quick, clever brain.
    â€˜That’s right. That woman tried to strangle me.’ Alfie stopped under a gas lamp, tilted his chin and showed the black bruises on his throat. ‘She threatened Sammy, too. She said that she knew where we lived so I thought I would bring him with us.’ He didn’tmention Mutsy; he didn’t like to admit that he felt uneasy about walking through the streets of St Giles without the presence of his faithful dog. In every shadow he seemed to see the huge, burly form of Mary Robinson, dressed in a man’s overcoat and a man’s hat.
    â€˜Coward,’ taunted Tom. ‘You nearly wet yourself, didn’t you, just because a woman gave you a shaking! Can’t think of nothing else but Mary Robinson, Mary Robinson, Mary Robinson! He’s been going on about her for the last hour or so, Sarah. He’s scared stiff, poor little boy!’
    â€˜You shut up or I’ll make you sorry,’ retorted Alfie. He doubled his fists, but then uncurled them reluctantly. He didn’t want to upset Jack. Jack was such a good friend as well as a cousin, never complaining, always ready to do the worst jobs like spending freezing hours up to his knees in the filthy water of the Thames, searching for pieces of coal. Without Jack, their life in the damp cellar in Bow Street would be a lot less comfortable. His brother just had to be put up with.
    Without saying a word, Alfie walked on. A flood of bad language was coming from Tom, but Alfie ignored it. Tom wasn’t too bright; he would soon runout of things to say and then they could forget their quarrel.
    â€˜Come on, Tom,’ said Jack, the peacemaker, after a few minutes. ‘Cheer up.’
    â€˜Well, I’m tired of him bossing me. Who’s he to say that I should waste my evenings going to school?’ Tom moodily kicked a stone from the pavement right under the feet of a passing horse.
    â€˜Give it another try,’ advised Jack. ‘It will come to you all of a sudden, you’ll find.’
    â€˜We’ll probably all be turned out anyway, what with Alfie dragging Sammy and Mutsy along,’ said Tom. Typically, he sounded quite good-humoured, now.
    Alfie didn’t turn his head. He had worse things to worry him than Tom. His eyes were fixed on the tall, broad figure emerging abruptly from a darkened doorway and then striding away from them, rounding the corner towards Great Russell Street.
    He met Sarah’s eyes and said in a low voice, ‘I think that might have been Mary Robinson.’

CHAPTER 4
T HE S CHOOL

    The Ragged School in Streatham Street was the last of the old houses built hundreds of years before, when St Giles was just a village outside London. Its ancient wooden frame had begun to rot away, and it lurched to one side, looking as though it would fall down any day in a gust of wind, or just sink back into the mud around it. Inside, it had a stone floor with two rooms downstairs and a large walk-in cupboard beside the front door. A crazily leaning wooden staircase led up to three more rooms.
    Mr Elmore, a small, heavily bearded figure, dressed as usual in a slightly shabby black frock coatand close-fitting black trousers, was at the door when they arrived.
    â€˜Come in,’ he said with a warm smile at Sarah, who was one of his star pupils. ‘And who is this?’
    He had seen at a glance that Sammy was blind and he took his hand with such gentleness that Alfie felt doubly ashamed to think how he had betrayed this kind man.
    â€˜This is Sammy, my brother,’ he said. ‘I’m a bit worried . . .’ He gulped a bit and decided not to mention the name of Mary Robinson. ‘I thought you might not mind if I brought him along,’ he finished.
    â€˜Come and learn your ABC, Sammy,’ said Mr Elmore gently. He