They went toward the lights of london Bridge. Amanda could feel her heart thumping.She had a pain in her side from running fast.
"Are we going over the bridge?" asked Jemmy.
No," said Amanda.
There was trouble on the bridge. Two wagon had run into each other. One had lost a wheel. The drivers had gotten out and begun to fight.
Amanda led Jemmy and Meg away from the bridge. They saw an inn ahead. Light shone from the windows. Jemmy pulled Amanda toward it. She pulled back."We can't go there."
"Why?"
It's only for those with money."
They walked along the river. On the riverbank, people were sitting about small fires.
" Who are they?"asked Jemmy.
" People with no homes," answered Amanda
"Like us." said Jemmy.
Some of the people were cooking. The smell of food was in the air.
" I'm hungry," said Jemmy
"You had supper," said Amanda
"I'm glad not very hungry," he said.
They came to an old Wooden pier. They walked out on it and sat down. The darkness hid them. They could hear the soft splash of the river below.
"Will they come after us?" asked Jemmy
"No, Unless_" A thought had cometo Amanda."Unless Mistress Trippett dies. Then they'll say I'm to blame, and they will come after me."
"What will they do if they find you?"
"put me in jail."
"Would Meg and I go, too?"
"No."
"Where would we go?"
"Jemmy, hush?"
"Where would we go, Amanda?"
"You'd go to a place where you work all day and half the night. When you're poor and don't have anywhere else to go, that's what you do."
"But Meg's too little."
"So are you."
"No, I'm not. But I don't want to go there. I'd rather go to jail with you."
"We won't be going to jail," she said,"because they won't catch us."
"Where are we going?"
"I don't know yet, but we're going to stay together. Do you hear that, Jemmy? Do you hear, Meg?"
I hear," he said.
Meg said nothing. She'd said nothing since they had left Mistress Trippett's
Meg was too quiet too good. All her life she'd been pushed away into corners. Sit there, Meg. Don't move, Meg. She'd never played like other children. She didn't know how.
A woman was coming slowly toward them with a lantern in her hand. She stopped at the pier, and the light shone on her face. She was very old. Her eyes looked hollow and wild.
"Give me_ Give me ," she said.
"We've nothing to give," said Amanda.
The woman held the lantern high. She was looking at Meg.
"It's my little girl, "she said.
"Nooo," said Amanda
The old woman came closer. "Don't you know me, dear"
"Go away," said Amanda.
Theold woman sat down beside them. She touched Meg's hair."Come, dear, I'll take you home with one."
"Leave her alone!" Amanda pulled Meg away and took Jemmy's hand. They left the pier. The old woman called after them, "Wait,_ Wait!" but they didn't stop.
They walked back toward London Bridge. Now Amanda got to know that night people were everywhere.
The spring night was not cold, but Amanda was shivering. Where could they go to be away from those people? Where could they go to rest and sleep a little?
She said, "If we go to Mistress Trippett's_"
"We can't go back," said Jemmy You know what fat Randolph said. They went back to house of Trippett and wanted to hide behind the chicken coops. "In the morning before it lights we could be gone." Amanda said
There was a man in the alley beside the house. He carried the Lantern. He came toward them. He would pass by, Amanda thought. But No, He was stopping. She could only stand there, with Jemmy holding one of her hands and Meg the other.
"Amanda-?" asked the man.
She knew him then.
"Dr. Crider." All the three said