Roger's original failure to obtain the purse is explained fully in the text:
The strap broke with the single tug the boy gave it from behind. But the boy’s weight and the weight of the purse combined caused him to lose his balance so, instead of taking off full blast as he had hoped, the boy fell on his back on the sidewalk, and his legs flew up. The large woman simply turned around and kicked him right square in his blue-jeaned sitter.
Roger had tugged very hard on the purse's strap as he came from behind, breaking it in the process. He then lost his footing since his and the purse's weight caused him to lose his balance. He fell to the sidewalk with his feet in the air and Mrs Washington Jones then gave him a solid kick on his behind. Instead of getting him arrested or releasing him, Mrs Washington Jones dragged him home with her, where she showed Roger a rare and unexpected kindness.
She spoke to him in a decent way. Although she was also admonishing him, she was not rude or aggressive in any way. She realized that he was quite needy as well as hungry and in the short time of their acquaintance she provided him with food and good old-fashioned advice. It was obviously also a bonus for Roger when she extended her kindness even further by giving him ten dollars before he left, to buy himself a pair of blue suede shoes.
Roger did have a second opportunity to get away with the purse, for Mrs Jones went behind a screen and did not watch him as she was busy preparing food in the kitchen. He could easily have grabbed her purse and run off with it, since it was within reach. However, he decided not to do so as is made clear in the following extract:
In another corner of the room behind a screen was a gas plate and an icebox. Mrs. Jones got up and went behind the screen. The woman did not watch the boy to see if he was going to run now, nor did she watch her purse which she left behind her on the day-bed. But the boy took care to sit on the far side of the room where he thought she could easily see him out of the corner of her eye, if she wanted to. He did not trust the woman not to trust him. And he did not want to be mistrusted now.
Roger had, at this point, learnt that it was important that others trust one but that trust has to be earned. If he had run away with the purse, he would have lost Mrs Washington Jones' trust forever, and he was not prepared to do that. He already believed that she could not trust him. He had to prove that he could be trusted.
When he left later, Roger surely departed from Mrs Washington Jones' place a better person. The interlude had taught him quite a few life lessons which would probably stay with him for the rest of his life.
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