Page:The Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow, a Book for an Idle Holiday - Jerome (1886).djvu/144



, you have some rooms to let."

"Mother!"

"Well, what is it?"

Ere's a gentleman about the rooms."

"Ask 'im in. I'll be up in a minute."

"Will yer step inside, sir? Mother'll be up in a minute."

So you step inside, and, after a minute, "mother" comes slowly up the kitchen stairs, untying her apron as she comes, and calling down instructions to some one below about the potatoes.

"Good morning, sir," says "mother," with a washed-out smile; "will you step this way, please?"

"Oh, it's hardly worth while my coming up," you say; "what sort of rooms are they, and how much?"

"Well," says the landlady, "if you'll step upstairs, I'll show them to you."

So, with a protesting murmur, meant to imply that any waste of time complained of hereafter must not be laid to your charge, you follow "mother" upstairs.

At the first landing, you run up against a pail and