At the greengrocer's next door there flared a bright jet of gas, and the light shone well into the deepening darkness.

But there was no woman in sight, and the only person about was a ragged boy, barefoot and bareheaded with no clothing but a torn pair of trousers, very jagged about the ankles, and a jacket through which his thin shoulders displayed themselves.

He was lolling in the lowest window-sill of the house opposite, and watched Oliver and the little girl looking about them with sundry signs of interest and amusement.
"She ain't nowhere in sight," he called across to them after a while, "nor won't be, neither, I'll bet you.

You're looking out for the little un's mother, ain't you, old master ?" "Yes," answered Oliver; "do you know anything about her, my boy ?" "Nothink," he said, with a laugh; "only she looked as if she were up to some move, and as I'd nothink particular on hand, I just followed her.
She was somethink like my mother, as is dead, not fat or rosy, you know, with a bit of a bruise about her eye, as if somebody had been fighting with her.

I thought there'd be a lark when she left the little 'un in your shop, so I just stopped to see.