The muslin curtains in the parlour windows of No.

15 would not have appeared of such a smoky yellow if the curtains of No.

14 had not been of such a pharisaical whiteness.

Mrs.Magson, at No.

13, was a humble letter of lodgings, always more or less in arrear with the demands of quarter-day; and it seemed a hard thing that her door-steps, whereon were expended much labour and hearthstone--not to mention house-flannel, which was in itself no unimportant item in the annual expenses--should be always thrown in the shade by the surpassing purity of the steps before No.