"Yer wants to 'ear what I knows, I'm sartin."
"Well! what is it?" said Benny, carelessly.
"Your Nelly's killed!"
"It's a lie!" said Benny, paling to the lips.
"'T ain't a lie, neither; she's been run over with a 'bus, an' 'ad her yed cut off."
"You lying thief!" said Benny. "If yer not out o' my sight in a minit I'll pound yer to a jelly."
And Benny made a rush towards him. But Perks was not to be caught, and was soon out of sight.
Benny did not believe a word Perks had said; and yet, somehow, his words troubled him, and very long seemed the time till four o'clock, when he would meet her in the shadow of St. George's Church.
If Perks' only object was to plague and annoy Benny, he could not have been more successful, for try as he would, he could not get Perks' words out of his head. Punctually at four o'clock he was standing by the church, but Nelly was not there, and a dull pain crept into his heart, such as he had never felt before. Five minutes pass—ten minutes—fifteen minutes pass, and still Nelly had not come, and Benny began to fear that something had really happened to her.
Just then he saw Bill Tucker—a boy of his acquaintance—coming towards him.
"Have yer seen Nelly, Bill?" he shouted, when the lad got within hearing distance.
"Ay; ain't yer heerd?"
