title: The Foundling's Tale, Part Two: Lamplighter
author:  D. M. Cornish 
description: -Reminiscent of the works of J. R. R. Tolkien or Robert Jordan.+ -<i>School Library Journal</i>, starred review<br /><br />-From the pre-industrial English feel to the sprawling setting and backstory, this book feels every bit as substantial as its heft implies.+ -<i>Publishers Weekly</i>, starred review<br /><br />+Gives the Dickensian orphan story an original spin. . . . Expertly envisioned and peopled with intriguing characters.+ -<i>Booklist</i>, starred review
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  ![cover](resources/_cover_.jpg)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
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  # The Little Thief
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ### Ouida
  
  
  This page copyright © 2001 Blackmask Online.
  
  
  http://www.blackmask.com
  
  
  IT was a warm night in February; there was the scent of narcissus and violets
  already on the air, and the Arno
  
  
  was silvered by the light of a full moon, as it flowed under the arches of the
  Ponte Vecchio.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  A small boy was leaning over the parapet and gazing at the water when he ought
  to have been in bed. But his
  
  
  bed was only a bit of sacking, with some dead maize leaves underneath it; and
  he liked better the radiant
  
  
  moonlight and the movements of the fresh, clear, pungent night air.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  His family name was a fine and ancient one, but he was called only Lillino
  now. His parents were dead; he had
  
  
  only an old great-grandmother, bedridden in the one room in Oltrarno, where he
  lived with her. He kept her and
  
  
  himself by selling matches, and he was as thin as a match himself, but was a
  pretty boy, with his