on, and I suppose that, in a way, I should be
considered a professional man myself. Nor do I object to the letting of
apartments, as long as it is done modestly, and without large, vulgar
notice-boards. But the general tone of the district is good, and I do
most strongly object to anything which would tend to lower it.

* * * * *

It was, as far as I remember, on the Tuesday evening that Eliza rather
lost her temper about the hairpins, and said that if I kept on taking
them and taking them she did not see how she was to do her hair at all.

This seemed to me rather unjust. I had not taken the hairpins for my
own pleasure. The fact is that the waste-pipe from the kitchen sink
frequently gets blocked, and a hairpin will often do it when nothing
else will. I replied coldly, but without temper, that in future I would
have hairpins of my own.

She said: "What nonsense!"

At this I rose, and went up-stairs to bed.

I think that most people who know me know that I am a man of my word.
On the following morning, before breakfast, I went into the High Street
to buy a pennyworth of hairpins. The short cut from our road into the
High Street is down Bloodstone Terrace.

It was in Bloodstone Terrace that I witnessed a sight which pained and
surprised me very much. It disgusted me. It was a disgrace to the
district, and amounted to a public scandal. St. Augustine's--which is
the third house in the terrace--had taken in washing, and not only had
taken in washing, but were using their front garden as a drying-ground!
An offensive thing of that kind makes my blood boil.

* * * * *

"Eliza," I said, as I brushed my hat preparatory to leaving for the
city, "I intend to write to Mr. Hamilton to-day."

"Have you got the money, then?" Eliza asked, eagerly.

"If you refer to last quarter's rent, I do not mean to forward it
immediately. A certain amount of credit is usual between landlord and
tenant. An established firm of agents like Hamilton & Bland must know
that."

"Yesterday was the third time they've written for the money, anyhow,
and you can say what you like. What are you writing for, then?"

"I have a complaint to make."

"Well, I wouldn't make any complaints until I'd paid last quarter, if I
were you. They'll only turn you out."

"I think not. I make the complaint in their interest. When a tenant in
Bloodstone Terrace is acting in a way