Page:A Child of the Jago - Arthur Morrison.djvu/86

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A CHILD OF THE JAGO

you git for yer pains. See—I know all about it." And Mr. Weech gazed on Dicky Perrott with a fixed grin.

"Oo toldjer?" Dicky managed to ask at last.

"Ah!"—this with a great emphasis and a tapping of the forefinger beside the nose—"I don't want much tellin': it ain't much as goes on 'ereabout I don't know of. Never mind 'ow. P'raps I got a little bird as w'ispers—p'raps I do it some other way. Any'ow I know. It ain't no good any boy tryin' to do somethink unbeknownst to me, mind jer."

Mr. Weech's head lay aside, his grin widened, his glance was sidelong, his forefinger pointed from his temple over Dicky's head, and altogether he looked so very knowing that Dicky shuffled in his seat. By what mysterious means was this new found friend so well informed? The doubt troubled him, for Dicky knew nothing of Mr. Aaron Weech's con-

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