“‘Sir, I apologise. I confess that up to this moment I fancied it was Carl; but what puzzled me was, that such a surly fellow should take to larking and playing the fool. You are very much like my last tenant, sir, that is all.’
“‘Very well; now that matter is settled, let us look at the rooms.’
“The lighted gas showed me a large one, and very barely furnished. There was a large leather-covered table with a desk on it, four chairs, an inkstand, and a partially filled waste-paper basket, and that was all.
“‘Rather meagre, Mr. Moss.’
“‘Now, my dear sir, what more could you want? Would you like a safe? I’ve got one to spare downstairs, and you shall have it, and a new mat for your feet—I hate haggling.’
“‘Let me see the other room, please.’
“It was one which a person sitting at the table would have right opposite to him, and it had no door.
“‘It was a clerk’s office,’ Mr. Moss said, ‘and you wanted your eye on such chaps.’ I suggested that the principal might sometimes want privacy, whereupon he said ‘he had the door downstairs, and it should be hung at once if I wished it.’ But having no intention of engaging a clerk at present, I told him it was of no consequence.
“The room was about half the size of the outer one, and contained a desk and stool. There was a large closet for coals and such like matters, and a good allowance of dust and cobwebs all over.
“‘I’ll have it cleaned up to-morrow,’ said Mr. Moss. ‘It looks beautiful when clean, and you will find the desk to be real Spanish mahogany.’