More.

And even more!

Adjectives, nouns, verbs, and generally useful phrases:

• above par - tolerably drunk
• awake - aware of
• bang-up - great
• bacon-brained - stupid
• barking irons -- pistols

It takes at least six weeks for cracked ribs to heal, and can take up to two months for patients who don't take care of themselves -- or so the white-haired mort that doctored Kim told her, with a significant look suggesting that Kim ought not be one of those patients. She'd offered to talk to a healer on Kim's behalf, but once Kim smoked that the ( Read more... )

London, Covent Garden, near Drury Lane ( Read more... )

Kim's in the bar, watching for a certain light-haired young man.

She's still not sure if this is a good idea.

The news reaches her in a roundabout, overheard way. She'll swing, say the mutterers in the marketplace. No doubt now. The gallows . . .Tom Correy confirms it. Mother Tibb's been sentenced to hang -- Monday next, say the gossips around Newgate ( Read more... )

Joseph Cutt is a good fence -- he usually pays reasonably, and he's trustworthy, as much as a thief can trust anyone who makes his living selling illegal things to respectable people. Mother Tibb used him regularly, and Kim knows him better than any of the other family men around London ( Read more... )

Kim slipped out of Milliways two nights after she slipped in. Free ride or no, it doesn't sit right with her to try and freeload too long.

( Besides, she has to know what's going on out in London. )

The snow in the London streets has long since turned into brown slush, though it's still cold enough for the mud puddles to freeze most days. The icicles hanging from the eaves of the buildings are picturesque, if you're not under them.

It's late, and dark out. Kim and two of the boys are on their way to one of the regular fence's from a job; Dick's ( Read more... )

Stay a step ahead of everyone else.

Kim sleeps on the side of the room farthest from the window, so that the sunrise hits her first, before the boys. When she wakes up, she very carefully and quietly wraps herself in her blanket to change whatever clothes need changing. She's gotten good at it; she's only been caught once by another light sleeper, a ( Read more... )

It's sunset when the nabbing culls come for Mother Tibb.

It's the perfect time for it -- at sunset, all her boys come back to their hidden away rooms to deliver the spoils of the day's work and get assignments for the night -- a chance to get a dozen rats with one stone.

They don't give any warning, of course; one moment, the boys are all gathered ( Read more... )