Page:A Child of the Jago - Arthur Morrison.djvu/122

 these were main considerations—but because stealthy presentation were then the easier. It would have pleased Dicky to hand over his gift openly, and to bask in the thanks and consideration it would procure. But he had been accused of stealing the clock, and an open gift would savour of admission and peace-offering, whereas in that matter stark denial was his plain course.

A roll of printed stuff would not do; apples would not do; and fish was wide of his purpose. Up one side and down the other side of High Street he walked, his eye instant for suggestion and opportunity. But all in vain. Nobody exposed clocks out of doors, and of those within not one but an attempt on it were simple madness. And of the things less desperate of access, nothing was proper to the occasion; all were too large, too cheap, or too uninteresting. Oddly, Dicky feared failure more than had he been hunting for himself.