Summary

In Chapter 12, Grue sits in The Hideous Head with no customers. He has watched the building across the street being repaired. He knows the men working must be from Artisan Row because no one in the Lower Quarter would help them without his say-so. Groups have been gathering to watch the new building take shape. He had expected the girls to be back by now with bowed heads. He had planned to make them spend a night sleeping on the stoop to learn their lesson. He wants to break their habit of following Gwen.

Grue watches Gwen through the window. He sees her giving orders and things that this freedom will go to her head. He wonders how she is paying for all of the improvements. He knows she cannot have been skimming his profits. Raynor Grue is the King of Wayward Street. Grue...