ing of decay there came also a change of landlord and janitor. Our
spruce and not unworthy colored man was replaced by one Thomas, who was
no less spruce, indeed, but as much more severe in his discipline as his
good-natured employer was lax in the matter of needed repairs.

Every evening, at length, when we gathered about the dinner table, the
Little Woman recited to me the story of her day's wrongs. They were many
and various, but they may be summed up in the two words--janitor and
landlord. The arrogance of one and the negligence of the other were
rapidly making life in the Monte Cristo apartments insupportable. Of
course there were minor annoyances--the children across the hall, for
instance, and the maid in the kitchen--but these faded into
insignificance when contrasted with the leaky plumbing, sagging doors,
rattling windows and the like on the part of Mr. Griffin, the landlord,
and new arbitrary rulings concerning the supply of steam for the parlor,
coal for the kitchen range, the taking away of refuse, and the austere
stairway restrictions imposed upon our Precious Ones on the part of
Thomas, the janitor.

It is true the landlord was not over-exacting in the matter of rent, and
when he came about, which was not often, would promise anything and
everything with the greatest good-will in the world, while Thomas kept
the front steps and halls in a condition which was really better than we
had been used to, or than the rent schedule would ordinarily justify.
But the good-will of the landlord usually went no farther than his ready
promises, while the industry of Thomas was overshadowed by his gloomy
discipline and haughty severity, which presently made him, if not the
terror, certainly the awe, of Monte Cristo dwellers. We had not minded
this so much, however, until when one day the Precious Ones paused on
the stair a moment to rest, as was their wont, and were perhaps even
laughing in their childish and musical way, Thomas, who had now been
with us some three months or more, appeared suddenly from some concealed
lurking-place and ordered them to their own quarters, with a warning
against a repetition of the offense that seemed unduly somber. It
frightened the Precious Ones so thoroughly that they were almost afraid
to pass through the halls alone next day, and came and went quite on a
run, looking neither to the right nor to the left.

It was then that we said we would go. Of course, moving was not
pleasant; we h