'So do the gentlemen downstairs, and the gentlemen overhead I have no
doubt,' was Tom's reply.

'Let me see. In the first place, you will wish to see your sister this
morning,' pursued his friend, 'and of course you will like to go there
alone. I'll walk part of the way with you; and see about a little
business of my own, and meet you here again in the afternoon. Put that
in your pocket, Tom. It's only the key of the door. If you come home
first you'll want it.'

'Really,' said Tom, 'quartering one's self upon a friend in this way--'

'Why, there are two keys,' interposed John Westlock. 'I can't open the
door with them both at once, can I? What a ridiculous fellow you are,
Tom? Nothing particular you'd like for dinner, is there?'

'Oh dear no,' said Tom.

'Very well, then you may as well leave it to me. Have a glass of cherry
brandy, Tom?'

'Not a drop! What remarkable chambers these are!' said Pinch 'there's
everything in 'em!'

'Bless your soul, Tom, nothing but a few little bachelor contrivances!
the sort of impromptu arrangements that might have suggested themselves
to Philip Quarll or Robinson Crusoe, that's all. What do you say? Shall
we walk?'

'By all means,' cried Tom. 'As soon as you like.'

Accordingly John Westlock took the French rolls out of his boots, and
put his boots on, and dressed himself; giving Tom the paper to read in
the meanwhile. When he returned, equipped for walking, he found Tom in a
brown study, with the paper in his hand.

'Dreaming, Tom?'

'No,' said Mr Pinch, 'No. I have been looking over the advertising
sheet, thinking there might be something in it which would be likely
to suit me. But, as I often think, the strange thing seems to be that
nobody is suited. Here are all kinds of employers wanting all sorts of
servants, and all sorts of servants wanting all kinds of employers, and
they never seem to come together. Here is a gentleman in a public office
in a position of temporary difficulty, who wants to borrow five hundred
pounds; and in the very next advertisement here is another gentleman who
has got exactly that sum to lend. But he'll never lend it to him, John,
you'll find! Here is a lady possessing a moderate independence, who
wants to board and lodge with a quiet, cheerful family; and here is a
family describing themselves in those very words, "a quiet, cheerful
family," who want exactly such a lady to come and live with them. But
she'll never go, John! Neither do any