considering the H. C. of L.," put in a middle-aged
man in a very tight Shepherd's plaid suit. "Mrs. Pete feeds us the best
she can for the mon."

"Oh, you're sweet on Mrs. Pete," laugheed the youth who had called
"April fool" to Josie.

"Is Mrs. Pete at home?" asked Josie, glad to know the name of her
future landlady.

"Sure she's home! Just open the door and walk in. Follow your nose--
there's cabbage to-day so it's easy--right down the hall until you come
to some steps. Then fall down the steps to the dining room. If Mrs.
Pete ain't there she's in the kitchen next to it."

Josie thanked the youth and followed his advice. She found everything
as he had told her she would, even to Mrs. Pete in the kitchen. She was
hardly prepared for the knock-down odors which greeted her nostrils as
she fell down the steps, nor was she prepared for the appearance of
Mrs. Pete.

Josie's first thought was: "How does the woman ever get down those
narrow stairs?" but she realized afterwards that she was of the soft
type of fat that could be squeezed into any space. She was bursting
from a tight kimono, a garment usually the loosest of all apparel, but
Mrs. Pete's arms quite filled the flowing sleeves and although it was
drawn tightly around her huge hips the fronts refused to meet but took
on the slant of a cutaway coat. There was no expression to her face. It
was simply fat. Her eyes looked like raisins in a bun and her mouth had
almost disappeared. One tooth projected as though nature had decided
that would be the only way to save the mouth from being entirely
submerged. Her nose would have been lost had it not been for a wart.
She moved lightly and easily, reminding Josie of a balloon with not
enough gas in it to soar aloft. She wore a black wig at a rakish angle
and a string of huge pink beads were lost and found in the folds of fat
of her neck.

"Well?" she questioned Josie in a voice that sounded as though she were
speaking down an empty hogshead.

"I want a room and board," said Josie.

"How many in a room?"

"I'd like one to myself."

"Humph! You'll have to pay for it then."

Josie expressed her willingness and they soon came to terms.

"It's a room a professional lady has just left, her and two children. I
don't usually take children but she engaged the room without letting on
there were any kids. She didn't take her meals here regular so I never
saw them much. Lord knows what the little things ate because she neve