It is too bad, said I. Was I looking for work? No, quite the
contrary; in fact, I had come to see Johnny Upright on business which
might be profitable to him.
A change came over the face of things at once. The gentleman in question
was at church, but would be home in an hour or thereabouts, when no doubt
he could be seen.
Would I kindly step in?--no, the lady did not ask me, though I fished for
an invitation by stating that I would go down to the corner and wait in a
public-house. And down to the corner I went, but, it being church time,
the "pub" was closed. A miserable drizzle was falling, and, in lieu of
better, I took a seat on a neighbourly doorstep and waited.
And here to the doorstep came the "slavey," very frowzy and very
perplexed, to tell me that the missus would let me come back and wait in
the kitchen.
"So many people come 'ere lookin' for work," Mrs. Johnny Upright
apologetically explained. "So I 'ope you won't feel bad the way I
spoke."
"Not at all, not at all," I replied in my grandest manner, for the nonce
investing my rags with dignity. "I quite understand, I assure you. I
suppose people looking for work almost worry you to death?"
"That they do," she answered, with an eloquent and expressive glance; and
thereupon ushered me into, not the kitchen, but the dining room--a
favour, I took it, in recompense for my grand manner.
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