Silence thus secured, I addressed her in this fashion: "Madam, I am a woodcarver by trade, and a rich old gentleman has just commissioned me to carve a wonderful design upon a coffin in which he wishes to bury his wife who is lately dead. My master, however, jealous at my good fortune, has dismissed me from his employ, and as it is necessary for me to get immediately to work, I must hire a room in the neighbourhood without delay. If you have a front room on the ground floor which you can let to me, I shall be glad to pay you for it at the rate of one pound for every day I use it in advance, and give you the pound you are biting, into the bargain!" "Lawks!" she cried, then uttered a croaking laugh. "You must be getting well paid for the job!" "A hundred pounds!" I replied. "No wonder you are in a hurry." "Have you such a room as I require?" I demanded impatiently. She opened a door at her right hand, and showed me a musty guest chamber, which still smelt of its former occupant, who must have been a tanner, I should say. "It will do," I declared. "Yes, but will you bring the coffin here?" "Assuredly." "Not for a pound a day, though, mister!" she retorted with a cunning smile. "Why, all my boarders would clear out!" "How much do you want, then?" "Two quid, not a penny less." I paid the money into her hand. Her eyes glinted with rage and self-contempt, because she had not demanded three, but I did not choose to heed. "I shall return in ten minutes with the coffin!" I said quickly. "In the meanwhile that room is mine. Please see that no one goes into it, and do not on any account open the window!" In another moment I was out of the house, and walking back briskly towards the city, followed at a distance by the greengrocer's cart. The undertaker's shop was half a mile away. I reached it in less than four minutes, and entered with the air of a busy bourgeois. "How much that box?" I asked of the proprietor, pointing to an imitation oak coffin that was half hidden behind several more showy constructions. "Four pounds," said he. "Could you deliver it at once?" "No, sir, my carts are all out." "You have attendants?" He scratched his head, "How fur?" he questioned. "Only a few hundred yards down the street! I'm willing to pay an extra five shillings for promptitude." He stepped to an open glass door and shouted--"Jim! Frank!" Two young men, evidently apprentices, answered his call. I put down four sovereigns and five shillings on the counter. The undertaker picked up the money, and pointed to my purchase. "Pick out the plain oak and take it to this gentleman's house!" he commanded. "He'll show you the way! Do you want a receipt, sir?" "I'll call back for it," I replied, and strode from the shop. The small procession that I headed occasioned a good deal of comment, and excited not a few grisly jests as we proceeded. But I paid no heed to any, and marched along with the expression of a lover lately bereaved of his sweetheart.