ingly
settled down. To support this impression there were his pallid
complexion and enormous round spectacles; his dusty air of premature
age; his general effect of dried-up detachment from his environment. One
noted, too, the tousled mass of nondescript hair, which he wore about a
month too long; the necktie-band triumphing over the collar in the back;
the collar itself, which had a kind of celluloid look and shone with a
blue unwholesome sheen under the gas-light. On the other hand there was
the undeniably trim cut of the face, which gave an unexpected and
contradictory air of briskness. The nose was bold; the long straight
mouth might have belonged to a man of action. Probably the great
spectacles were the turning-point in the man's whole effect. You felt
that if you could get your hands on him long enough to pull those off,
and cut his hair, you might have an individual who would not so surely
have been christened the little Doctor.

These details the agent gathered at her leisure. Meantime here was the
situation, stark and plain; and she, and she alone, must handle it. She
must tell this young man, so frankly engrossed in his mental and
material food, which he ate by his watch, that he must fork over four
times seven-fifty or vacate the premises.... Yes, but how to do it? He
could not be much older than she herself, but his manner was the most
impervious, the most impossible that she had ever seen. "I'm grim and
I'm resolute," she said over to herself; but the splendid defiance of
the motto failed to quicken her blood. Not even the recollection of the
month's sponge for board and the house-rent due next week spurred her to
action. Then she thought of Fifi, whom Mr. Queed had packed off sobbing
for his good pleasure, and her resolution hardened.

"I'm afraid I must interrupt your reading for a moment," she said
quietly. "There is something I want to say...."

He glanced up for the second time. There was surprise and some vexation
in the eyes behind his circular glasses, but no sign of any interest.

"Well?"

"When my aunt introduced you to me just now she did not--did not
identify me as she should--"

"Really, does it make any difference?"

"Yes, I think it does. You see, I am not only her niece, but her
business woman, her agent, as well. She isn't very good at business, but
still she has a good deal of it to be done. She runs this
boarding-place, and people of various kinds come to her and she takes
them