the time that Nan would have put into learning her new
neighborhood like the back of her grimy little hand had been put into talking
with Sarah, and before too long, even Nan was lost in the maze of dark, fetid
streets. Then their luck ran out altogether, and they found themselves staring
at the blank wall of a building, in a dead-end cul-de-sac. They whirled around,
hoping to escape before they were trapped, but it was already too late. The
bulky silhouettes of the two men loomed against the fading light at the end of
the street.
“Oo’s
yer friend, ducky?” the first man purred. “Think she’d
loik’t‘come with?”
To
Nan’s astonishment, Sarah stood straight and tall, and even stepped
forward a pace. “I think you ought to go away and leave us alone,”
she said clearly. “You’re going to find yourselves in a lot of
trouble.”
The
talkative man laughed. “Them’s big words from such a little
gel,” he mocked. “We ain’t leavin’ wi’out we collect
what’s ours, an’ a bit more fer th‘ trouble yer
caused.”
Nan
was petrified with fear, shaking in every limb, as Sarah stepped back, putting
her back to the damp wall. As the first man touched Sarah’s arm, she
shrieked out a single word.
“
Grey
!”
As
Sarah cried out the name of her pet, Nan let loose a wordless prayer for
something, anything, to come to their rescue.
She
never would have believed that anything would—
Then
something screamed behind the man; startled and distracted for a moment, he
turned. For a moment, a fluttering shape obscured his face, and he screamed in
agony, shaking his head, violently, clawing at whatever it was.
“Get
it off!” he screamed at his partner. “Get it off!”
“Get
what off?” the other man asked, bewildered and suddenly frightened,
backing away a little from his agitated partner. “There ain’t
nothin’ there!”
The
man flailed frantically at the front of his face, but whatever had attacked him
had vanished without a trace.
But
not before leading more substantial help to the rescue.
Out
of the dusk and the first wisps of fog, Karamjit and another swarthy man ran on
noiseless feet. In their hands were cudgels which they used to good purpose on
the two who opposed them. Nor did they waste any effort, clubbing the two
senseless with a remarkable economy of motion.
Then,
without a single word, each of the men scooped up a girl in his arms, and bore
them back to the school. At that point, finding herself safe in the arms of an
unlooked-for rescuer, Nan felt secure enough to break down into hysterical
tears. The man who had her—
not
the silent Karamjit—patted
her back awkwardly, then muffled her face against his coat. And for the first
time since her granny had died, Nan felt safe enough to take advantage of the
comfort offered; she clutched at him and sobbed until they passed through the
gates of the school.
Nor
was that the end of it; though she completely expected to be set on her feet
and shooed away, she found herself bundled up into the sacred precincts of the
school itself, plunged into the first hot bath of her life, wrapped in a clean
flannel gown, and put into a real bed. Sarah was in a similar bed beside her.
It
all happened so swiftly, and with such an economy of action, that she was
hardly able to think until that moment. As she sat there, numb, a plain-looking
woman with beautiful eyes came and sat down on the foot of Sarah’s bed,
and looked from one to the other of them.
“Well,”
the lady said at last, “what have you two to say for yourselves?”
Nan
couldn’t manage anything, but that was all right, since Sarah
wasn’t about to let her get in a word anyway. The child jabbered like a
monkey, a confused speech about Nan’s mother, the men she’d sold
Nan to, the virtue of charity, the timely appearance of Grey, and a great deal
more besides. The lady listened and nodded, and when Sarah ran down at last,
she turned to Nan.
“I
believe Sarah is right in one