Page:A Child of the Jago - Arthur Morrison.djvu/126

 Dicky reflected that the box could be easily snatched, but after all the little girl had but one; whereas the shop-woman had many, and at best could play on no more than one at a time.

He resumed his watch of the shop-boy, confident that, sooner or later, a chance would come. A woman stopped to ask the price of something, and Dicky had half crossed the road ere the boy had begun to answer. But the answer was short, the boy's attention was released too soon.

At last the shop-woman called the boy within, and Dicky darted across—not directly, but so as to arrive invisibly at the side next the basket of music-boxes. A quick glance behind him, a snatch at the box with the reddest picture, and a dash into the traffic did it.

The dash away would not have been necessary but for the sudden reappearance of the shop-boy ere the box had vanished