rusque-mannered person, whose appearance in a
bachelor's household was not likely to cause a scandal. Her nose was in
itself a certificate of virtue. She was to bring her furniture into
the basement, and I was to give her and her sister one of the two upper
rooms for a bedroom.

They moved in a few days later. I was out at the time, and the first
intimation I had was finding three little dogs in my hall when I
returned. I had her up, and explained that this was a breach of
contract, and that I had no thoughts of running a menagerie. She pleaded
very hard for her little dogs, which it seems are a mother and two
daughters of some rare breed; so I at last gave in on the point.
The other sister appeared to lead a subterranean troglodytic sort of
existence; for, though I caught a glimpse of her whisking round the
corner at times, it was a good month before I could have sworn to her in
a police court.

For a time the arrangement worked well, and then there came
complications. One morning, coming down earlier than usual, I saw a
small bearded man undoing the inside chain of my door. I captured him
before he could get it open. "Well," said I, "what's this?"

"If you please, sir," said he, "I'm Miss Wotton's husband."

Dreadful doubts of my housekeeper flashed across my mind, but I thought
of her nose and was reassured. An examination revealed everything. She
was a married woman. The lines were solemnly produced. Her husband was a
seaman. She had passed as a miss, because she thought I was more likely
to take a housekeeper without encumbrances. Her husband had come home
unexpectedly from a long voyage, and had returned last night. And
then--plot within plot--the other woman was not her sister, but a
friend, whose name was Miss Williams. She thought I was more likely to
take two sisters than two friends. So we all came to know who the other
was; and I, having given Jack permission to remain, assigned the other
top room to Miss Williams. From absolute solitude I seemed to be rapidly
developing into the keeper of a casual ward.

It was a never-failing source of joy to us to see the procession pass on
the way to their rooms at night. First came a dog; then Miss Williams,
with a candle; then Jack; then another dog; and finally, Mrs. Wotton,
with her candle in one hand and another dog under her arm. Jack was with
us for three weeks; and as I made him holystone the whole place down
twice a week until the boards were like a quarter