Timmy walked boldly across the yard and established himself on the bench and his dog, Flick, jumped up and sat sedately by him.

The little boy then took a small black book out of his pocket.

The book was called "The Crofton Boys" and Timmy had chosen it because the name of the new tenant of The Trellis House was Mrs.Crofton, a friend, as he was aware, of his godfather, Godfrey Radmore.

He wondered if she had any boys.
The two men, busy with big new brooms, came up close to where Timmy was sitting.

When the child, obviously "one of the gentry," had walked into the stable-yard, they had abruptly stopped talking; but now, seeing that he was reading intently, and apparently quite uninterested in what they were doing, they again began speaking to one another, or rather one of them, a hard-bitten, shrewd-looking man, much the older of the two, began talking in what was, though Timmy was not aware of it, a Cockney dialect.
"You won't find 'er a bad 'un to work for, m'lad.