“Make a go,” Bazie ordered. “I needs twa dozen, so don’ get ’em all in one place, eh?”

“Right. Ye ready?” Deek asked, looking down at Skif, who jumped to his feet. “We’re off.”

“Not like that ‘e ain’t!” Lyle protested. “Glory, Deek, ’e cain’t pass i’ them rags!”

Bazie concurred with a decided nod. “Gi’e ‘im summat on ourn. ’Ere, Lyle—i’ the cubberd—”

Lyle went to the indicated alcove and rummaged around for a moment. “’Ere, these’re too small fer any on’ us—”

The boy threw a set of trews and a knitted tunic at Skif who caught them. They were nearly identical to Deek’s; the same neat and barely visible patches, the same dark gray-brown color. Happy to be rid of his rags, Skif stripped off everything but his smallclothes and donned the new clothing.

Now Bazie and Lyle nodded their satisfaction together. “We’ll boil up yer ol’ thin’s an’ mend ‘em a bit—ye kin ’ave ’em back when ye git back,” Bazie said. “We don’ wan’ yer nuncle t’ wonder where ye got new close.”

“Yessir,” Skif said, bobbing his head. “Thenkee, sir!”

Bazie laughed. “Jest get me napkins, imp.”

Now properly clothed so that his ragged state wouldn’t attract attention, Skif was permitted to follow Deek out into the streets.

They walked along as Skif had already learned to, as if, no matter how fine the neighborhood, they belonged there, that they were two boys who had been sent on an errand that needed to be discharged expeditiously, but not urgently.

Deek, however, knew every illicit way into the laundries and wash houses of the fine houses on these streets, and he led Skif over walls, up trees, and across rooftops. Together they waited for moments when the laundresses and washerwomen were otherwise occupied, and dropped down into the rooms where soiled linens were sorted for washing.

It was Skif who picked out the napkins from among the rest—no more than two or three lightly soiled squares of linen at each place. He chose nothing that was so badly grease-stained that it was unlikely it could be cleaned, nor did he pick out items that were new.

Once retrieved, Deek did something very clever with them. He folded them flat, and stuffed them inside the legs of his trews and Skif’s, so that there was no way to tell that the bits of fabric were there at all without forcing them to undress. When they had the full two dozen, with no close calls and only one minor alarm, Deek called a halt, and they strolled back to Bazie’s.

Skif was tired, but very pleased with himself. He’d kept up with Deek, and he’d been the ones to pick out the loot Bazie wanted. Nothing new, nothing over-fine, nothing that would be missed unless and until a housekeeper made a full inventory. Not likely, that; not in the places that Deek had selected.

They made their way up, over, and down again, and back to Bazie’s den. This time when Deek knocked, it was Bazie himself that opened the door for them, and Skif watched with covert amazement as he stumped back to his seat like some sort of bizarre four-legged creature, supporting himself on two wooden pegs strapped where his legs had been, and two crutches, one for each arm.