"What on earth is that?"
Apartments and Flats
"I've never been in one myself, but Miss Wynne said that, if you wanted to come, she would find us a flat, or an apartment."
"What's the difference between a flat and an apartment?"
"That's what I asked her. She said it was just the rent. You pay more for an apartment than you do for a flat."
"I wouldn't want anything I had to pay more for," observed Miss Mattie, stroking her chin thoughtfully. "You ain't told me what a flat is."
"A few rooms all on one floor, like a cottage. It's like several cottages, all under one roof."
"What do they want to cover the cottages with a roof for? Don't they want light and air?"
"You don't understand, Mother. Suppose that our house here was an apartment house. The stairs would be shut off from these rooms and the hall would be accessible from the street. Instead of having three rooms upstairs, there might be six—one of them a kitchen and the others living-rooms and bedrooms. Don't you see?"
"You mean a kitchen on the same floor with the bedrooms?"