"Your remark is a natural one. There _is_ something mysterious in it, and I _am_ most anxious to become your tenant." "You are candid enough in that respect, I must say. Will you favour me with your name and references?--you have references, of course; they are indispensable." "I have references, with which you will be satisfied. But I cannot give them to you, nor can I disclose my name, until you say the house is mine, on my conditions--to which I must add another: that my name is not entered on your books for your clerks to comment upon and prattle about. If you agree, and my references are satisfactory, the matter can be concluded at once. If they are not satisfactory, I cannot expect you to accept me as a tenant. It will be a grief to me, but I shall be compelled to submit, and must seek another mode of carrying out my designs." So much was Mr. Stapleton's curiosity excited that he consented to the proposed arrangement. "Now for the references," he said. "I will take you to them," responded the gentleman. "I am most earnestly desirous that the affair be concluded immediately. Charge me what you please for your loss of time in accompanying me, and believe that if it be in my power to show my gratitude to you by-and-bye, I shall not miss the opportunity." Unusual as was this mode of conducting his business, Mr. Stapleton consented, and accompanied the gentleman to a house in the most fashionable part of London, where he obtained a recommendation in every way satisfactory, and then to a common locality, where a private detective, known to him by name, vouched for the respectability of his proposed tenant. "Is this a police affair, then?" he asked of the detective. "Perhaps it is and perhaps it isn't," replied the detective. "What you've got to do with it is to take your rent, and keep your mouth shut." "A wink's as good as a nod," said Mr. Stapleton, and departed with his tenant to his office, where the preliminaries were completed, and the rent paid to him. He whistled softly when he heard the name of the tenant, which was given to him in confidence, but he took the detective's advice, and kept his mouth shut--except to his wife, upon his return home; but even to her he would impart nothing more than that he had that day transacted the strangest piece of business in his experience. Long before this strange piece of business was concluded, Becky had received the following reply to her letter: