“R-right now?” said Robin.
“Why not right now?” asked Jonathan Highcrofft. “It’s as good a time as any. And I know it would please Adelaide a great deal.”
The delighted Robin took a big swallow. “Then … then, Papa, may I ask you something?”
“Fire away,” said Jonathan Highcrofft.
“It’s about this watch,” said Robin, still holding it in his hand. “It belonged to Hawker. He loaned it to me because he sold my watch, the one that belonged to my … my first papa. Would you see to it that Hawker’s friends Quill and Maggot get it? I expect he would have liked one of them to have it.”
“Unfortunately, we have no way of knowing which one,” said Jonathan Highcrofft. “And from what I could tell from my brief encounter with those two, I would expect there to be some unpleasantness over it. But I’ll do as you ask. You say Hawker sold your papa’s watch? Do you know to whom he sold it?”
“He sold it to Mr. Slyke, who has a pawnshop,” replied Robin.
Jonathan Highcrofft’s eyebrows rose. “Slyke? I know of the man. A very shady character, I understand. Some of my friends’ stolen jewelry has turned up at his place of business. I believe he’s a dealer in stolen goods. But I’m going to see about getting your watch back for you.”
“Mr. Slyke said the watch is only nickel plate,” said Robin. “Once I thought I had to sell it myself, because when Hawker sent me to collect rents, one of the people didn’t pay enough. Hawker said I had to go back, and I didn’t want to. But I was afraid of what he’d do to me, so I took my watch to Mr. Slyke. He said it was only worth twenty-five cents to him. I needed fifty, so I didn’t sell it to him. But he only gave Hawker fifteen cents for it, because Hawker didn’t care. He only sold it to punish me. But I don’t think anyone who buys it from Mr. Slyke should pay much more than that.”
“Well, I expect that watch is worth a fair amount more than twenty-five cents. But I don’t care what it’s worth, because I don’t intend to pay Mr. Slyke a single cent for it. And by the time I get through with him, he’ll be begging me to take the watch and offering to pay me for the privilege. Furthermore, I won’t be accepting anything like twenty-five cents. No, he’ll be expected to do a great deal better than that! And son,” said Jonathan Highcrofft, putting an arm around Robin’s shoulders, “that watch is going to be an heirloom you can tell your little brother about some day.”
Robin hesitated, and then put his own skinny arm around his new papa’s waist, only to feel an answering tightening of the arm around his shoulders. He could hardly wait for the time when he could tell Danny about the watch. For it would have quite a story behind it. Quite a story indeed!
