bogies! Rats and mice, and beetles; and creaky
doors, and loose slates, and broken panes, and stiff drawer handles,
that stay out when you pull them and then fall down in the middle of
the night. Look at the wainscot of the room! It is old--hundreds of
years old! Do you think there's no rats and beetles there! And do you
imagine, sir, that you won't see none of them? Rats is bogies, I tell
you, and bogies is rats; and don't you get to think anything else!'

'Mrs. Dempster,' said Malcolmson gravely, making her a polite bow,
'you know more than a Senior Wrangler! And let me say, that, as a mark
of esteem for your indubitable soundness of head and heart, I shall,
when I go, give you possession of this house, and let you stay here by
yourself for the last two months of my tenancy, for four weeks will
serve my purpose.'

'Thank you kindly, sir!' she answered, 'but I couldn't sleep away
from home a night. I am in Greenhow's Charity, and if I slept a night
away from my rooms I should lose all I have got to live on. The rules
is very strict; and there's too many watching for a vacancy for me to
run any risks in the matter. Only for that, sir, I'd gladly come here
and attend on you altogether during your stay.'

'My good woman,' said Malcolmson hastily, 'I have come here on purpose
to obtain solitude; and believe me that I am grateful to the late
Greenhow for having so organised his admirable charity--whatever it
is--that I am perforce denied the opportunity of suffering from such a
form of temptation! Saint Anthony himself could not be more rigid on
the point!'

The old woman laughed harshly. 'Ah, you young gentlemen,' she said,
'you don't fear for naught; and belike you'll get all the solitude you
want here.' She set to work with her cleaning; and by nightfall, when
Malcolmson returned from his walk--he always had one of his books to
study as he walked--he found the room swept and tidied, a fire burning
in the old hearth, the lamp lit, and the table spread for supper with
Mrs. Witham's excellent fare. 'This is comfort, indeed,' he said, as
he rubbed his hands.

When he had finished his supper, and lifted the tray to the other end
of the great oak dining-table, he got out his books again, put fresh
wood on the fire, trimmed his lamp, and set himself down to a spell of
real hard work. He went on without pause till about eleven o'clock,
when he knocked off for a bit to fix his fire and lamp, and to make
himself a cup of te