The balance? It sounded formidable, but it worked out at exactly tenpence a week less than the rent asked for (twelve and twopence instead of thirteen shillings), and in twenty years' time--and he'd be a young man still then--the house would be his, Ranny's, as surely as if he had purchased it outright for two hundred and fifty pounds. It was astounding. Such a scheme could only have been dreamed of in the Paradise of Little Clerks. And yet--and yet--it was impossible. Ranny said he didn't want to be saddled with a house. How did he know whether he'd want that particular house in twenty years' time? Then he could let or sell, the Agent said. It was an investment for his money. It was property. Property that was going up and up. Even supposing--what was laughable--that he failed to sell--he would be paying for his property--paying for house and land--less weekly than if he rented it. Ordinarily you paid your rent out of income or investments. He would be investing every time he paid his rent. People made these difficulties because they hadn't grasped our system--or for other reasons. Maybe (the Agent fired at him a glance of divination) he was calculating the expense of furnishing? He was. Nothing simpler. Why--you furnished on the hire-purchase system. "Not much," said Ranny. He knew all about the hire-purchase system. So he backed out of it. He backed out of his Paradise, out of his dream. But to save his face he said he would think it over and let the Agent know on Monday. And the Agent smiled. He said he could take his time. There was no hurry. The house wouldn't run away. And he gave Ranny a copy of the Prospectus with a beautiful picture of the house on it. All the way home Violet reproached him. It was a shame, she said, that he couldn't afford the furniture. There was nothing in the world she wanted so much as that beautiful little house. She hung on his arm and pleaded. Would he ever be able to afford the furniture? And Ranny said he thought he could afford it in two years. Meanwhile the house wouldn't run away. It would wait two years. And as if it had been waiting for him, motionless, from all eternity, the house, with its allurements and solicitations, caught him before six o'clock on the evening of that very day.