Just William Richmal Crompton (important of reading books txt) đ
- Author: Richmal Crompton
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At last he discovered a pair of iron gates through the dusk and, assuming an expression of patient suffering calculated to melt a heart of stone, walked up the drive. At the front door he smoothed down his hair (he had lost his cap on the way), pulled up his stockings, and rang the bell. After an interval a stout gentleman in the garb of a butler opened the door and glared ferociously up and down William.
âPleaseâ ââ began William plaintively.
The stout gentleman interrupted.
âIf youâre the new Boots,â he said majestically, âgo round to the back door. If youâre not, go away.â
He then shut the door in Williamâs face. William, on the top step, considered the question for a few minutes. It was dark and cold, with every prospect of becoming darker and colder. He decided to be the new Boots. He found his way round to the back door and knocked firmly. It was opened by a large woman in a print dress and apron.
âWhat yâ want?â she said aggressively.
âHe said,â said William firmly, âto come round if I was the new Boots.â
The woman surveyed him in grim disapproval.
âYou bin round to the front?â she said. âNerve!â
Her disapproval increased to suspicion.
âWhereâs your things?â she said.
âCominâ,â said William without a momentâs hesitation.
âToo tired to bring âem with you?â she said sarcastically. âAll right. Come in!â
William came in gratefully. It was a large, warm, clean kitchen. A small kitchen-maid was peeling potatoes at a sink, and a housemaid in black, with a frilled cap and apron, was powdering her nose before a glass on the wall. They both turned to stare at William.
âââEreâs the new Boots,â announced Cook, âââis valetâs bringinâ âis things later.â
The housemaid looked up William from his muddy boots to his untidy hair, then down William from his untidy hair to his muddy boots.
âImperdent-lookinâ child,â she commented haughtily, returning to her task.
William decided inwardly that she was to have no share at all in the nuggets.
The kitchen-maid giggled and winked at William, with obviously friendly intent. William mentally promised her half a shipload of nuggets.
âNow, then, Smutty,â said the housemaid without turning round, ânone of your sauce!â
âââAd your tea?â said the cook to William. Williamâs spirits rose.
âNo,â he said plaintively.
âAll right. Sit down at the table.â
Williamâs spirits soared sky high.
He sat at the table and the cook put a large plate of bread and butter before him.
William set to work at once. The housemaid regarded him scornfully.
âLearnt âis way of eatinâ at the Zoo,â she said pityingly.
The kitchen-maid giggled again and gave William another wink. William had given himself up to wholehearted epicurean enjoying of his bread and butter and took no notice of them. At this moment the butler entered.
He subjected the quite unmoved William to another long survey.
âWhen next you come a-hentering of this âouse, my boy,â he said, âkindly remember that the front door is reserved for gentry anâ the back for brats.â
William merely looked at him coldly over a hunk of bread and butter. Mentally he knocked him off the list of nugget-receivers.
The butler looked sadly round the room.
âTheyâre all the same,â he lamented. âEat, eat, eat. Nothinâ but eat. Eat all day anâ eat all night. âEâs not bin in the âouse two minutes anâ âeâs at it. Eat! eat! eat! âEâll âave all the buttons bust off his uniform in a week like wot the larst one âad. Like eatinâ better than workinâ, donât you?â he said sarcastically to William.
âYes, I do, too,â said William with firm conviction.
The kitchen-maid giggled again, and the housemaid gave a sigh expressive of scorn and weariness as she drew a thin pencil over her eyebrows.
âWell, if youâve quite finished, my lord,â said the butler in ponderous irony, âIâll show you to your room.â
William indicated that he had quite finished, and was led up to a very small bedroom. Over a chair lay a pageâs uniform with the conventional row of brass buttons down the front of the coat.
âTogs,â explained the butler briefly. âYour togs. Fix âem on quick as you can. Thereâs company to dinner tonight.â
William fixed them on.
âYouâre smaller than wot the last one was,â said the butler critically. âThey âang a bit loose. Never mind. With a week or two of stuffinâ youâll âave most probable bust âem, so itâs as well to âang loose first. Now, come on. âOoâs bringing over your things?â
âEâ âa friend,â explained William.
âI suppose it is a bit too much to expeck you to carry your own parcels,â went on the butler, âin these âere days. Bloominâ Bolshevist, I speck, arenât you?â
William condescended to explain himself.
âIâm a gold-digger,â he said.
âCriky!â said the butler.
William was led down again to the kitchen.
The butler threw open a door that led to
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