“Madam, if I go, I go alone.”

She nodded:

“I’m sorry, Major; but if you don’t go, the drawing-room floor says she will leave—and others in the house are getting restless—and we cannot afford the loss.”

The Major pondered upon the problem long.

“Yes,” he said, “the drawing-room floor is serious—she is a woman of weight.”

The landlady tittered.

But the daughter frowned her to order, and said, somewhat to the point:

“She pays her way handsomely.”

The Major bowed and withdrew.

He sang, Sigh no more, ladies, as he sallied up the stairs; and to the profound astonishment of the two puzzled women he did not stir from the house that day.