Each house in this street, as in all the streets, is shoulder to shoulder
with its neighbours. To each house there is but one entrance, the front
door; and each house is about eighteen feet wide, with a bit of a brick-
walled yard behind, where, when it is not raining, one may look at a
slate-coloured sky. But it must be understood that this is East End
opulence we are now considering. Some of the people in this street are
even so well-to-do as to keep a "slavey." Johnny Upright keeps one, as I
well know, she being my first acquaintance in this particular portion of
the world.
To Johnny Upright's house I came, and to the door came the "slavey." Now,
mark you, her position in life was pitiable and contemptible, but it was
with pity and contempt that she looked at me. She evinced a plain desire
that our conversation should be short. It was Sunday, and Johnny Upright
was not at home, and that was all there was to it. But I lingered,
discussing whether or not it was all there was to it, till Mrs. Johnny
Upright was attracted to the door, where she scolded the girl for not
having closed it before turning her attention to me.
No, Mr. Johnny Upright was not at home, and further, he saw nobody on
Sunday.
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