r at last there came a time when he said it, and I answered: ''All right. Today you''ll get it. We''ve waited long enough. Today''s our day''; and instead of looking pleased, he stared and looked frightened.
Perhaps he thought he saw a certain feverish something in my eye. I don''t know. It seemed to me I was thinking like a sharper, for the first time in my life. I took him back to Watling Street and got his jacket out of pawn. But I kept hold of it. Then I took him on a ''bus.—''For a treat,'' I said. ''Look out the window, at the shops.''
I found us places next to a woman holding a baby. I sat with the coat across my lap. Then I looked at the baby. The woman caught my eye, and I smiled.
''Pretty boy,'' she said. ''Isn''t he? Won''t sleep for his mother, though. I bring him on the ''buses and the bumping sends him off. We''ve been from Fulham to Bow; now we''re on our way back.''
''He''s a peach,'' I said. I leaned in and stroked his cheek. ''Look at them lashes! He''ll break hearts, he will.'' ''Won''t he!''
Then I leaned back. When the next stop came, I made Charles get off. The woman said good-bye, and from the window, as the ''bus moved away, she waved. But I didn''t wave back. For, under cover of Charles''s coat, I had had a feel about her waistband; and had prigged her watch. It was a nice little ladies'' watch, and just what I needed. I showed it to Charles. He looked at it as though it were a snake that might bite him. ''Where did you get that?'' he said.