“We shouldn’ o’ been spendin’ all that on wot we was shovin’ in our faces,” said Spider. “Wot was we thinkin’? Ain’t never goin’ ter git ’nough fer a proper shoe stan’ like we been wishin’ fer.”
“Look who’s talkin’?” said Mouse. “Who’s allus wantin’ them apples wot ain’t got no worm holes? Seems ter me as how it’s you, Spider.”
“Sorry,” said Spider. “But I ain’t the one wot wanted ter git that big sausich, now were I?”
“Aw, stop it,” said Duck. “Wot s done’s done. Blamin’ someone ain’t gittin’ nothin’ back. An’ ain’t we all eatin’ nothin’ but stale bread now? It’s Danny s milk wot we got ter think ’bout. Ain’t that right, Robin?”
Robin nodded. It was right, indeed, and he had been thinking very hard about this, and how it had not been very wise to spend so much of his money when he first came. Showing off is what it was. He had only spent two cents later on the pencil stubs and paper, and worthwhile as that was, perhaps he should not have done that either.
“Could we borry from Mr. Gribbins?” asked Piggy.
“Nah, we ain’t goin’ ter start that,” said Duck. “Not ’less Danny ain’t got a drop o’ milk from anywheres. Mr. Gribbins’ Hannah’s ailin’, and needs lots o’ medicine, he says. An’ he don’t git paid spit, near as I c’n figger. No, we ain’t borryin’ from him.”
“We could borry from the box upstairs,” said Spider.
“That ain’t borryin’,” said Duck. “That’s stealin’, ’cause wot if we c’d never pay it back? Must be some other way.”
“We c’d sell somethin’ ter a peddler,” suggested Piggy hopefully.
“Like wot?” asked Duck. “Our cups an’ dishes we got in the dump? Saucepan from the same place? That’d bring in a pretty penny. An’ who’d pay us fer somethin’ wot they c’n find in the dump, I arsk you? More’n likely we’d be arsked ter pay fer someone ter take the stuff.”
“There’s our shoe boxes,” said Spider.
“No!” said both Duck and Mouse so sternly, Spider fairly shrivelled away.
“I … I could sell my papa’s watch,” said Robin. “I told you how just before I ran away I had to take money from what my mama left me, to pay Hawker because someone didn’t give me all the rent money I had to collect for him. Anyway, before I remembered I had the money, I tried to sell the watch at a pawnshop. Mr. Slyke said he’d give me only twenty-five cents, and I needed fifty, so I never sold it. But I could go back now and get the twenty-five cents.”
“Aw, not yer pa’s watch!” exclaimed Duck. “That ain’t right. You don’t want ter do that, do you?”
No, Robin did not want to do that. But twenty-five cents might be just enough to buy enough milk for Danny until they could all get out and start shoe shining again. If there were only something else that he had that he could sell.
The pin and the locket!
When he had taken them from Hawker’s drawer, he had considered them useless because they were not money. He had never told the boys about them because they were something he had stolen. But could they not be sold at the pawnshop just as well as the watch? Why had he never thought of this before? And now he might as well come out with it, stolen goods or not, for they were desperate. In for a penny, in for a pound!
“I … I have something else I could sell,” he blurted.
“Wot’s that?” asked Duck.
Before replying, Robin went to where his jacket lay on the floor, reached into a pocket, and pulled out the pin and locket.
“Here,” he said, handing them to Duck.
Duck gave a low whistle. Spider, Mouse, and Piggy clustered around him, staring bug-eyed at his hand.
“Wheeooo!” said Mouse. “Where’d you git this stuff, Robin?”
“Stole it,” said Robin.
“Wot?” said Spider.
“He said he stealed it,” Duck said. “Brush out yer ears, Spider.”
“How come you never said nothin’ ’bout havin’ this stuff?” Mouse asked.
“No stealing, no cheating, no gambling. Remember?” said Robin. “I couldn’t tell you about stuff I’d just come from stealing.”
“But you ain’t said yet where you stealed it from,” Piggy said.
“From the drawer where Hawker hid all his stolen stuff. Pins, rings, necklaces—things like that,” Robin replied. “Hawker works at the docks, and he collects rents for a landlord as well. But he’s in the stealing business too. I don’t know if he goes stealing himself, but he’s in business with people who do.”
“Robbin’ from the robber,” mused Spider. “Stealin’ don’t seem so bad when you think on it that way.”
“That’s right,” agreed Duck. “Seems as how yer Hawker were jist gittin’ paid back.”
“I … I guess so,” said Robin. “But up until now, I wished I’d never taken anything from that drawer, because I knew if Hawker found anything missing, he’d try all the harder to find me. Then I remembered my mama whispering to me about a locket before she died. I thought she did, anyway, and I thought maybe this was the one, and it might have pictures of my papa and her in it. But it doesn’t. I don’t know who the people are.”
“Mind if I open yer locket?” Duck asked.
“Go ahead,” said Robin.
Duck snapped open the locket, studied in a moment, and then brought it up closer to his eyes. “Never seed anyone like the gent b’fore. Lady got the look o’ that purty one wot was handin’ them dyin’ flowers ter Mr. Gribbins first day I come ter St. Somethin’. But this picter’s small, and they’s probable a million purty ladies jist like this in this picter. Here, any o’ you want ter see?”
They all did, so as Duck handed the pin back to Robin, the open locket was passed from Spider, to Mouse, to Piggy. At last, still open, it came back to Robin. Glancing at it before closing it,
