As she was to be absent for a full month or more, Anderson conceived the idea of advertising for a lodger and boarder.

By turning Roscoe out of his bed, they obtained a spare room that looked down upon the peony beds beyond the side "portico." Mr.Crow was lazily twisting his meagre chin whiskers one morning soon after Rosalie's departure.

He was leaning against the town pump in front of the post-office, the sun glancing impotently off the bright badge on the lapel of his alpaca coat.

A stranger came forth from the post-office and approached the marshal.
"Is this Mr.Crow ?" he asked, with considerable deference.
"It is, sir." "They tell me you take lodgers." "Depends." "My name is Gregory, Andrew Gregory, and I am here to canvass the neighbourhood in the interest of the Human Life Insurance Company of Penobscot.

If you need references, I can procure them from New York or Boston." The stranger was a tall, lean-faced man of forty or forty-five, well dressed, with a brusque yet pleasant manner of speech.