“Will you see them?” asked Mrs. Hazard. Jim nodded and went down. Hope rejoined Jeffrey in the dining-room. Near the front door stood two boys talking together softly. They had no bags with them, nor was there any conveyance to be seen outside.
“You wanted to look at a room?” asked Jim gloomily.
“Please,” replied the taller of the two.
“This way, then. There’s a back room on this floor to rent and one or two upstairs.” Jim threw open the door of the chamber opposite the dining-room and they looked in. It was not a very attractive apartment, however, and they didn’t enter.
“I think something upstairs would be nicer,” said one. He turned, crossed the hall and looked into the dining-room. “Oh, I beg your pardon,” he said, “that’s not a bedroom, is it?” But in spite of his apology he seemed in no hurry to withdraw.
“That’s the dining-room,” said Jim shortly.
“I see.” The boy gave a final look at the room—and its occupants—and followed toward the stairway. “Is the corner room on that side rented?” he asked.
“Yes,” replied Jim grimly. “Very much rented!” Then he stopped on the landing and faced the two boys. “Say, you fellows aren’t new here, are you?”
“No,” replied the elder, “why?”
“I want to know something. We rented a room to a fellow about a week ago and he came to-day. That’s he in the dining-room. Now another chap comes along and says he engaged the same room from the lady who had the house last year. It’s the corner room you asked about. This new chap says we’ve got to stand by what Mrs. Timberlake did. I don’t think that’s sense. We never saw her and didn’t know anything about it. At that rate she may have rented all the rooms, for all we know!”