"How much rent do you expect to pay?"
"I suppose we must pay as much as twenty dollars a month for comfortable furnished rooms."
"Can you afford that?"
"My business brings me in as much as fifty dollars a month."
"You haven't engaged rooms yet?"
"No, sir; my mother and I went out to look at some this morning. We only saw one place that suited us. That we could have got for twenty-two dollars and a half rent, but when they heard of my little brother they wouldn't take us."
"I see. Some persons object to young children. I am glad you have not engaged a place yet."
Paul looked at Mr. Preston inquiringly.
"A gentleman of my acquaintance," proceeded the merchant, "is about sailing to Europe with his family. He is unwilling to let his house, fearing that his furniture would be injured. Besides, the length of his stay is uncertain, and he would want to go into it at once if he should return suddenly. What I am coming to is this. He wants some small family to go in and take care of the house while he is away. They would be allowed to live in the basement and use the chambers on the upper floor. In return they would receive the rent free. How would your mother like to make such an arrangement?"
"Very much," answered Paul promptly. He saw at a glance that it would be a great thing to save their rent, amounting, at the sum they expected to pay, to more than two hundred and fifty dollars a year. "Where is the house?"