“Abaht time,” George whispered in greeting. “Summats ’appening. The cully frum t’ city’s ’ere wi’ ’is mates.” Thrusting a bundle at Ned, he added, “Get t’ workhouse rags off’n an’ yer own on. T’ devil’s goin’ t’ be loose in a minute.”
It took Ned no time at all to open the bundle and pull on his old drawers, shirt and trousers that George had recovered from the cupboard in the store room where the inmates’ personal property was kept. Snatching another bundle, Ben stripped out of his workhouse-issued shirt, trousers, and drawers, and dressed in the old clothes he’d been wearing on committal.
Ned suppressed a laugh at the comical sight of George squeezing himself into trousers far too small. In fact, the clothes in his bundle were for a small boy, not a growing teenager.
Ned saw a solutio
