wed him
over the various apartments, and, with some return of his persuasive
eloquence, expounded their attractions. The gentleman was particularly
pleased by the elegant proportions of the drawing-room.

"This," he said, "would suit me very well. What, may I ask, would be
your terms a week, for this floor and the one above it?"

"I was thinking," returned Somerset, "of a hundred pounds."

"Surely not," exclaimed the gentleman.

"Well, then," returned Somerset, "fifty."

The gentleman regarded him with an air of some amazement. "You seem to
be strangely elastic in your demands," said he. "What if I were to
proceed on your own principle of division, and offer twenty-five?"

"Done!" cried Somerset; and then, overcome by a sudden embarrassment,
"you see," he added apologetically, "it is all found money for me."

"Really?" said the stranger, looking at him all the while with growing
wonder. "Without extras, then?"

"I--I suppose so," stammered the keeper of the lodging-house.

"Service included?" pursued the gentleman.

"Service?" cried Somerset. "Do you mean that you expect me to empty your
slops?"

The gentleman regarded him with a very friendly interest. "My dear
fellow," said he, "if you take my advice, you will give up this
business." And thereupon he resumed his hat and took himself away.

This smarting disappointment produced a strong effect on the artist of
the cartoons; and he began with shame to eat up his rosier illusions.
First one and then the other of his great works was condemned, withdrawn
from exhibition, and relegated, as a mere wall-picture, to the
decoration of the dining-room. Their place was taken by a replica of the
original watered announcement, to which, in particularly large letters,
he had added the pithy rubric: "_No service._" Meanwhile he had fallen
into something as nearly bordering on low spirits as was consistent with
his disposition; depressed, at once by the failure of his scheme, the
laughable turn of his late interview, and the judicial blindness of the
public to the merit of the twin cartoons.

Perhaps a week had passed before he was again startled by the note of
the knocker. A gentleman of a somewhat foreign and somewhat military
air, yet closely shaven and wearing a soft hat, desired in the politest
terms to visit the apartments. He had (he explained) a friend, a
gentleman in tender health, desirous of a sedate and solitary life,
apart from interruptions and the noises