Chapter Five: Bill Sykes

About two hours later, Kathryn heard the other boys returning. They were a rowdy lot and made a lot of noise. It seemed as if William and Benjamin were having a fight over something. She smiled at the thought. Walking out into the main room, she saw that the boys had all gotten into a line in front of Fagin.

One after another they handed the things that they had stolen to Fagin. Dodger was the first in line; followed by Charley Bates and the Davis boys who were standing side by side because they couldn't decide who should stand in front.

Kathryn watched as each boy presented his findings to Fagin. Dodger had gotten two wallets; Charley Bates had gotten a handkerchief and an empty snuff box, and so on. However, no one had been as successful as Kathryn.

When the last boy had given his findings to Fagin, Fagin gathered everything up and called Kathryn over. "Now my dears," he said, "we must see who gets the reward today," he looked over everything before he decided, "Alexander, you have been the most successful today. You get the prize of a dinner roll."

Kathryn stared at the dinner roll. I could use this to feed Ginger, she thought. Pulling herself back into the world, she said, "Thank you, sir."

"Oh you are mos' welcome, me dear," he said, "Now you lot, come ove' 'ere and ea' before the food gets cold." Everyone scrambled to their places at the table and started eating the leftover breakfast sausages. Kathryn walked over to the table but didn't know where to sit. After a while, Fagin noticed this and told her where to sit. She sat on the end of the table with Dodger at the other end.

When the meal was finished, Fagin gave each of the boys ow handkerchiefs to pick the initials out of. Each of the boys groaned and sat down heavily on stools surrounding the fire. Kathryn almost laughed out loud because none of the boys could perform this simple task. They had to concentrate so hard to keep from poking their fingers.

While she was watching the boys attempting to pick the initials out of the handkerchiefs, Fagin came up to her. "Come 'ere, my dear," he said, "I am going to teach you to count." He led her over to the table where he had placed a box of money. Pulling up a stool and motioning for her to do the same, he took out two dirty coins from the box.

"Now," he said, "each of these coins are worth a pence. Since there are two o' them, we have tuppence." Kathryn nodded to say she understood. He went on, taking another three coins out of the box, "'ere are several more coins. Can you tell me 'ow many we 'ave now?"

Studying the coins, Kathryn tried to count on her fingers. She had received a few lessons at the workhouse since it was supposed to be a place to get an education. Finally, she decided that there were five of them. "Five, sir," she said.

"Very good, my dear. Now see if you can coun' fa'ther." He took out ten more coins and laid them on the table in front of her. Again, she studied them for a while before she even took a guess. If I had five before he added those, then all I need to do is figure out how many he just took out of the box. Easy to think about, she thought. A good fifteen minutes passed before she finally had the answer, "Fifteen, sir," she said proudly.

"Good job, Alexander. I am going to put you in charge of counting the boys findings." Kathryn was proud that she was trusted enough to do this job but was a little worried that she wasn't going to be able to perform it very well. Keeping her thoughts to herself, she merely said 'thank you' and went to help the boys with their jobs.

Two hours later it was time for dinner. They had a bit of stale bread and a small chicken leg. When the meal was over, Kathryn was still hungry. She felt the roll that Fagin had giver her earlier in her pocket. I can't eat it, she thought, it's for Ginger. However, that didn't stop her from wanting to eat the roll.

After dinner, the boys sat around the fire and told stories. Charley Bates loved telling stories so a few of them were a bit far-fetched. When he reached his tenth story, Kathryn started to get sleepy. Her eyes began to close and she tried not to yawn. Soon she was overpowered and fell into a deep sleep.

She woke up in her bed at midnight. Looking over at Dodger, she saw that he was laying on his back with his eyes wide open. "Dodger," she said in a whisper, "How did I get to my bed? I fell asleep out by the fire."

Dodger jumped slightly before replying, "I carried you to your bed because I didn't want to wake you up."

"Thank you," said Kathryn as she lay back down and tried to go back to sleep. Tossing and turning, she just couldn't fall back asleep. She sighed as she lay on her back and gave up.

Suddenly, she was startled by a loud knock on the door. She heard Fagin running to the door and wondered who it was. Sitting up, she pulled the curtain aside a bit and peeked out. She saw a burly looking man with dark hair and a heavy complexion. He carried a heavy cudgel and wore a worn black suit and a black top hat. He was tall and very formidable looking. Shuddering, she wondered why Fagin would allow such a man into his home.

She soon found out. Fagin led the new man over to the table and sat down. The man immediately started pulling things out of his coat: a silver plate, two silver knives, and a bracelet. Kathryn thought he was finished until he started punching his stomach and gaging like he had something stuck in his throat. Which he did. Reaching into his mouth, he pulled out the most magnificent necklace of pearls that she had ever seen.

Fagin took them and wiped them off on his coat. The man held out his hand for something and Fagin spoke, "Bill," he said, "You know I don't keep cash around with all of these little pickpockets. I also need to price all of this stuff. Tell you wha', I'll meet you at the usual place tomorrow at midnigh', alrigh'?" An affirmative grunt from the man called Bill told Fagin he was safe.

Kathryn lay back down and thought about what she had just heard and seen. Who is that man and why does he bring Fagin all of those nice things? she thought, I'll ask Dodger if he is still awake. Looking over at him, she found that he was indeed still awake. Seeing her questioning look he said, "That was Bill Sykes. He is the bes' pickpocket in all o' London."

"But why does he bring everything to Fagin?" she asked.

"I ain't sure, me mate. 'e always 'as and I assume 'e always will."

"Thank you," Kathryn said vaguely as she lay down to think over all of her new information. Dodger didn't seem worried about Bill Sykes and why he came to Fagin and that worried her. Had he been told not to ask questions about the man? Thinking about all of this, she fell into a restless sleep.