"Oh yus," she answered shortly, my appearance possibly not approximating
the standard of affluence required by her house.
I said no more, consuming my rasher of bacon and pint of sickly tea in
silence. Nor did she take further interest in me till I came to pay my
reckoning (fourpence), when I pulled all of ten shillings out of my
pocket. The expected result was produced.
"Yus, sir," she at once volunteered; "I 'ave nice lodgin's you'd likely
tyke a fancy to. Back from a voyage, sir?"
"How much for a room?" I inquired, ignoring her curiosity.
She looked me up and down with frank surprise. "I don't let rooms, not
to my reg'lar lodgers, much less casuals."
"Then I'll have to look along a bit," I said, with marked disappointment.
But the sight of my ten shillings had made her keen. "I can let you have
a nice bed in with two hother men," she urged. "Good, respectable men,
an' steady."
"But I don't want to sleep with two other men," I objected.
"You don't 'ave to. There's three beds in the room, an' hit's not a very
small room."
"How much?" I demanded.
"'Arf a crown a week, two an' six, to a regular lodger. You'll fancy the
men, I'm sure. One works in the ware'ouse, an' 'e's been with me two
years now.
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