"How much for a room ? " I inquired, ignoring
her curiosity.

She looked me up and down with frank surprise.
"I don t let rooms, not to my reg lar lodgers, much
less casuals."

"Then I ll have to look along a it," I said, with
marked disappointment.

But the sight of my ten shillings had made her
keen. " I can let you ave a nice bed in with two
hother men," she urged. " Good respectable men,
an steady."

"But I don t want to sleep with two other men,"
I objected.

"You don t ave to. There s three beds in the
room, an hit s not a very small room."

"How much?" I demanded.

"Arf a crown a week, two an six, to a regular
lodsrer. You ll fancy the men, I m sure. One
works in the ware ouse, an e s bin with me two
years, now. An the bother s bin with me six.
Six years, sir, an two months comin nex Saturday.

"E s a scene-shifter," she went on. " A steady,
respectable man, never missin a night s work in
the time e s bin with me. An e likes the ouse;
e says as it s the best e can do in the w y of lodgin s.
I board im, an the hother lodgers too."

"I suppose he s saving money right along," I
insinuated innocently.

[[31]]

p030 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p031w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p032

v?