"Twenty-seven shillings a week, sir, if you please," said Margaret.
"Twenty-seven shillings a week," said Mr. George, repeating the words to himself in a musing manner. "That must be about a dollar a day, reckoning four shillings to the dollar. Well, Rollo, I think you and I can afford to pay
half a dollar a piece for our rooms, considering that it is London."
"Yes," said Rollo; "I think we can."
"We will take the rooms, then," said Mr. George, turning to Margaret.
"Very well, sir," said Margaret; "as you go down stairs I will speak to my mistress."
So Margaret led the way down stairs, and Mr. George and Rollo followed. At the foot of the stairs they were met by the landlady, who came out from a basement room to see them. Mr. George told the landlady that they would take the rooms; and he handed her his card, in order that she might know his name.
"And perhaps, sir," said she, "you would be willing to make a deposit in advance."
"Certainly," said Mr. George.
"Because sometimes," said the landlady, "a gentleman engages rooms, and then something happens to prevent his coming, and so we lose all our trouble of putting them in order for him, and, perhaps, lose the opportunity of renting them to another lodger besides."