A Lion to Guard Us

At first, the children run toward London Bridge, but there is a wreck there and it is unpassable. Jemmy wants to go to an inn, but Amanda explains they can’t because they don’t have any money. Instead, they walk along the riverbank, where they see unhoused people sitting around small fires.

They come to a wooden pier and decide to sit there. Jemmy asks if anyone will come after them, and Amanda says if Mistress Trippett dies, they might come to take her to jail. Jemmy asks what he and Meg would do then, and Amanda tells him they would have to go to a workhouse.

An old woman with a lantern approaches them and believes Meg is her little girl. She tries to take Meg, but Amanda pulls her away, and the children run again. They head back to Mistress Trippett’s house to hide in her garden behind the chicken coops until morning. As they approach the house, they see a man with a lantern and recognize him as Dr. Crider.

Dr. Crider tells the children that he was looking for them and takes them with him since they have nowhere else to go.