e presumably no other occupants, for the
remaining two spaces relating to it were blank.

Triffitt took all this in at a glance; another glance showed him a door
close by on which was painted the word "Office." He pushed this open and
walked inside, to confront a clerk who was the sole occupant. To him,
Triffitt, plunging straight into business, gently intimated that he was
searching for a convenient flat. The clerk immediately began to pull out
some coloured plans, labelled first, second, third floors.

"About what sized flat do you require?" he asked. He had already looked
Triffitt well over, and as Triffitt, in honour of the occasion, had put
on his smartest suit and a new overcoat, he decided that this was a
young man who was either just married or about to be married. "Do you
want a family flat, or one for a couple without family, or----"

"What I want," answered Triffitt readily, "is a bachelor flat--for
myself. And--if possible--furnished."

"Oh!" said the clerk. "Just so. I happen to have something that will
suit you exactly--that is, if you don't want to take it for longer than
three or four months." He pulled forward another plan, labelled "Fifth
Floor," and pointed to certain portions, shaded off in light colours.
"One of our tenants, Mr. Stillwater," he continued, "has gone abroad for
four months, and he'd be glad to let his flat, furnished, in his
absence. That's it--it contains, you see, a nice sitting-room, a
bedroom, a bathroom, and a small kitchen--all contained within the flat,
of course. It is well and comfortably furnished, and available at once."

Triffitt bent over the plan. But he was not looking at the shaded
portion over which the clerk's pencil was straying; instead he was
regarding the fact that across the corresponding portion of the plan was
written in red ink the words, "Mr. Frank Burchill." The third portion
was blank; it, apparently, was unlet.

"That is really about the size of flat I want," said Triffitt, musingly.
"What's the rent of that, now?"

"I can let that to you for fifty shillings a week," answered the clerk.
"That includes everything--there's plate, linen, glass, china, anything
you want. Slight attendance can be arranged for with our caretaker's
wife--that is, she can cook breakfast, and make beds, and do more, if
necessary. Perhaps you would like to see this flat?"

Triffitt followed the clerk to the top of the house. The absent Mr.
Stillwater's rooms were comfortabl