“You think, mademoiselle, that the five rooms of the vacant flat are really more than you require, and you are asking me, I feel convinced of it, to divide the premises in two by having a party-wall constructed?”
Elisabeth Dollon assented: “That, sir, is what the concierge led me to expect.”
“Consider the matter settled,” declared M. Moche; “and accordingly, the premises being only one half as big, the rent will be proportionately less—I will ask you 400 francs. When do you wish to move in?”
“As soon as possible.”
“The rooms are empty; as soon as ever the partition is built, you can take possession.”
Moche went into the adjoining room and returned with a form of contract he had taken from one of the pigeonholes.
“Sign this paper, mademoiselle, if you please.”
Elisabeth Dollon was preparing to do so when he asked another question in a tone of fatherly interest: “You are alone, eh? quite alone?”
“Why, of course,” replied the girl, whose look of surprise clearly showed that she failed to understand what her prospective landlord would be at.
The latter explained: “The house in the Rue de l’Evangile is let out to very desirable tenants—only respectable families.... It is not for me to judge your character, my dear young lady, but if you did happen to have a ‘friend,’ or several ‘friends,’ why, you must not let them come to see you—or not too often, at any rate.”