The Last Tenant

he pleasantest district in our modern Babylon. In no other part of London can you see in such perfection the tender green of spring, and enjoy air so pure and bracing, and ther

hall leave the solution to students more deeply versed than myself in the mysteries of the visible and invisible life by which we are surrounded. I must, however, make one observation. There is in my mind no doubt that I was the chosen instrument in bringing to light the particulars of a foul and monstrous crime, which might otherwis

and cheerful, and I trotting patiently by her side; we returned home every evening worn out, disheartened, bedraggled, and generally demoralized. My condition was, of course, worse than that of my wi

well this morni

eply, smiling amiably at

, of all the trials to which human beings are subject, house-hunting is incomparably the most exasperating and afflicting. Were I a judge with the power to legislate, I would make it a punishment for criminal offenses: "Prisoner at the bar, a jury of your countrymen have very properly found you guilty of the crime for which you have been tried, and it is my duty now to pass sentence upon you. I have no wish to aggravate your sufferings in the painful position

equally dismal gardens, the twisted taps, the rusty locks and keys, the dark closets which the agents had the effrontery to call bedrooms, supplied ample evidence that their fate was deserved. There were some in a better condition, having been newly patched and painted; but even to these more likely tenements there was always, I was ever thankful to hear, an objection, from one cause or another, raised by my wife. In one the dining room was too small; in another it was too large; in another the bath was on an unsuitable floor--down in the basement or up on the roof; in another the range was old-fashioned; in another there was no getting into the garden unless you passed through the kitchen or flung yourself out of t

e were rich we

I am a bit of a draughtsman, and from the descriptions she gave me of the house that would complete her happiness I drew out the plans o

ifling exception proved ever to be of alarming proportions, was often hydra-headed, and was always insurmountable. Then would she glow with indignation at the duplicity of the agents, and would call them names which, had they been publicly utter

omitable wife, after slamming the last street door behind her, informed me that

inth, I think," I s

re a dreadful lot. You can't place

the very house to suit us; in fact, he had a dozen, and he went through them seriatim. But my wife, who during the past month had

do," she said, "but we will

sh orders to view--in a word, a wasted, weary week. Mr. Gascoigne dr

the best one

d my wife, br

perhaps once in a lifetime. I shall not have it long on my books;

?" asked my

, hot and cold water to top floor, commodious kitchen and domestic offices, conservatory, stabling, coach house,

carried away, but I soon cooled down. Such

on lease?"

lease," Mr. Ga

ld be too hig

k so. Ninety

?" I

ds a year,"

hispered to me, "A prize! Why did we not come here

it. Ninety pounds a year! It was a

t. "Is there a care-

lied, "it is

been lon

ely an

only just left

as not been l

been a

ntleman has a house which he wishes to let, and he places it in our hands. All that we have to do is to ascertain that the part

ed to me something exceedingly strange in such a house being to let at

good repai

ot; but that is t

ou make t

he repairs in the manner that suits him best. There is a little dilapidation, I believe, in one or two of the rooms, a bit of the flooring loose here a

to be completel

, so that you shall not be disappointed. But the

at sum does the landl

ing, a hundred

arked, "of what I should

y client might feel disposed to increase the amount. You can exami

questions, and had nodded her head in approval of every

use for one's self is to have a sufficient sum of money allowed to spend on

he landlord not at all a hard man to deal with. He makes only o

it," said my wife. "What on earth

," said t

ore questions," I said. "Ar

plied the agent,

is it

replied the ag

nagement to my wife, who had evidently set her heart upon moving to No. 79 Lamb's T