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"Uniform?" ses Mr. Alfredi. "Wot uniform? I ain't seen no uniform. Where is it?" Rupert didn't answer 'im, but arter they 'ad gone 'ome he told George that he 'ad 'ad enough of acting and he should go. "Where to?" ses George. "I'll find somewhere," ses Rupert. "I sha'n't starve." "You might ketch your death o' cold, though," ses George.
"Well, I should be sorry to lose you, but I won't stand in your way." Mrs. Alfredi, wot was standing by, stuffed her pocket-'ankercher in 'er mouth, and Rupert began to feel a bit uneasy in his mind. "If I did," he ses, "you'd get into trouble for 'elping me to desert." "Desert!" ses Mr. Alfredi. "I don't know anything about your deserting." "Ho!" ses Rupert. "And wot about my uniform?"
Alfredi shook his 'ead over it; and arter calling 'imself a soft-'arted fool, and saying he'd finish up in the workhouse, he made it three pounds and told George to look sharp. "He's a very good marketer," he ses, arter George 'ad gone; "he don't mind wot trouble he takes. He'll very likely haggle for hours to get sixpence knocked off the trousers or twopence off the shirt."
Alfredi; and Rupert, wishful to make the best o' things, decided that he would undress George and go off in 'is clothes. He waited till Kumbo 'ad gone off to bed, and then he started to take George's coat off. He got the two top buttons undone all right, and then George turned over in 'is sleep.
Alfredi, and then her 'usband led 'im to a room at the back, where a little lame man was cleaning up things, and told 'im to take his clothes off. "If they was mine," he ses, squinting at the fire-place, "I should know wot to do with 'em." Rupert laughed and slapped 'im on the back, and, arter cutting his uniform into pieces, stuffed it into the fireplace and pulled the dampers out.
Alfredi," he ses, introducing 'im to a fat, red-'aired lady wot was sitting inside sewing. "She has performed before all the crowned 'eads of Europe. That di'mond brooch she's wearing was a present from the Emperor of Germany, but, being a married man, he asked 'er to keep it quiet." Rupert shook 'ands with Mrs.
He gave 'im another coat arf an hour arterwards, while George curled his 'air, and when 'e was dressed in bracelets round 'is ankles and wrists, and a leopard-skin over his shoulder, he was as fine a Zulu as you could wish for to see. His lips was naturally thick and his nose flat, and even his eyes 'appened to be about the right color. "He's a fair perfect treat," ses Mr. Alfredi.
It surprised Rupert, but wot surprised 'im more when he rolled George over was to find them two buttons done up agin. Arter it had 'appened three times he see 'ow it was, and he come to the belief that George was no more drunk than wot he was, and that it was all a put-up thing between 'im and Mr. Alfredi.
"Fetch Kumbo in, George." The little man went out, and came back agin shoving in a fat, stumpy Zulu woman wot began to grin and chatter like a poll-parrot the moment she saw Rupert. "It's all right," ses Mr. Alfredi; "she's took a fancy to you." "Is is she an actress?" ses Rupert. "One o' the best," ses the manager. "She'll teach you to dance and shy assegais.
"Fetch Kumbo in, George." The little man went out, and came back agin shoving in a fat, stumpy Zulu woman wot began to grin and chatter like a poll-parrot the moment she saw Rupert. "It's all right," ses Mr. Alfredi; "she's took a fancy to you." "Is is she an actress?" ses Rupert. "One o' the best," ses the manager. "She'll teach you to dance and shy assegais.
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