Colonel Morris, after leaving River Hall, had migrated temporarily to a fashionable West End hotel, and was, when I called to see him, partaking of tiffin in the bosom of his family, instead of at his club. As it was notorious that he and Mrs. Morris failed to lead the most harmonious of lives, I did not feel surprised to find him in an extremely bad temper. In person, short, dapper, wiry, thin, and precise, his manner matched his appearance. He had martinet written on every square foot of his figure. His moustache was fiercely waxed, his shirt-collar inflexible, his backbone stiff, while his shoulder-blades met flat and even behind. He held his chin a little up in the air, and his walk was less a march than a strut. He came into the room where I had been waiting for him, as I fancied he might have come on a wet, cold morning to meet an awkward-squad. He held the card I sent for his inspection in his hand, and referred to it, after he had looked me over with a supercilious glance. "Mr. Patterson, from Messrs. Craven and Son," he read slowly out loud, and then added: "May I inquire what Mr. Patterson from Messrs. Craven and Son wants with me?" "I come from Miss Blake, sir," I remarked. "It is here written that you come from Messrs. Craven and Son," he said. "So I do, sir--upon Miss Blake's business. She is a client of ours, as you may remember." "I do remember. Go on." He would not sit down himself or ask me to be seated, so we stood throughout the interview. I with my hat in my hand, he twirling his moustache or scrutinising his nails while he talked. "Miss Blake has received a letter from you, sir, and has requested me to ask you for an explanation of it." "I have no further explanation to give," he replied. "But as you took the house for two years, we cannot advise Miss Blake to allow you to relinquish possession in consideration of your having paid her six months' rent." "Very well. Then you can advise her to fight the matter, as I suppose you will. I am prepared to fight it." "We never like fighting, if a matter can be arranged amicably," I answered. "Mr. Craven is at present out of town; but I know I am only speaking his words, when I say we shall be glad to advise Miss Blake to accept any reasonable proposition which you may feel inclined to make." "I have sent her half a year's rent," was his reply; "and I have refrained from prosecuting you all for conspiracy, as I am told I might have done. Lawyers, I am aware, admit they have no consciences, and I can make some allowance for a person in Miss Blake's position, otherwise." "Yes, sir?" I said, interrogatively.